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Cape Town - Proteas skipper AB de Villiers has apologised for the way South Africa performed at this year's ICC Champions Trophy.
The Proteas, the No 1-ranked ODI team in the world, failed to make it through to the semi-finals of the tournament after losing their 'quarter-final' to India on Sunday.
De Villiers' men looked out of sorts as they collapsed in their turn at bat, only managing a paltry 191 all out in 44.3 overs.
India completed the run-chase with ease - winning by eight wickets - and knocking South Africa out of yet another ICC event before the final.
The Proteas had earlier suffered a further embarrassment in their second Group B fixture when they slumped to a 19-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
"It's been 48 hours since that horrible defeat against India and looking back we just had a horrible time with the bat," De Villiers said on his AB17 app.
"We had two low scores against Pakistan and India, we never really gave our bowlers the opportunity to defend those totals, so it's very disappointing."
De Villiers is now tasked with leading the Proteas in their three-T20 series against England, the first of which will take place on Wednesday, June 21.
READ: Proteas rest big names for England T20Is
De Villiers will lead the side in the absence of regular captain Faf du Plessis who has been given a "break" for the series.
"For us, we've got a week here in London to train and do gym work and try to stick together as a team as much as we can after all the disappointment we had to face over the last few days. We're looking forward to the T20 series against England."
De Villiers then went on to apologise to the public for their performance during the ICC event and vowed that the team would bounce back.
"To all our die hard fans and to the public that always supports us, I am truly and genuinely sorry about the way we performed during this tournament and we will keep working hard on our game and try and make it right."
