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England captain Michael Vaughan admitted his side had “let a lot of people down” after they were knocked out of the World Cup in chastening fashion by South Africa.
After being rolled over for 154 batting first, South Africa, led by an onslaught from Vaughan’s opposite number Graeme Smith, who made a rapid 89 not out, dismissed England with ease to take the last semi-final place with a nine-wicket victory.
The out-of-form England skipper admitted his side were low on form but insisted they would improve and learn from their mistakes.
Vaughan told Sky Sports 2: “We were pretty average today and we’ve let a lot of people down.
“Our batting has not been good and we know we need to improve.
“We’ve got a big game (against the West Indies) on Saturday but we know we’re out of the World Cup and we’ve got a lot of pride. We know we have a lot of fans here.
“We have a big summer ahead but it’s important that we analyse what went on here. We’ve had a poor winter in all respects.
“There are positives - we’ve got some good young players coming through but we have to make sure we learn from what has happened.”
South Africa captain Smith was pleased with the emphatic nature of his side’s victory, particularly coming after the weekend loss to New Zealand and reports of the players drinking.
Smith, whose score came off 58 balls, said: “It has been a tough tour at times but I am really proud of the way the guys stood up today. We needed to regroup after the last game.
“Our motivation came from knowing what we can play like and how we wanted to play it. We had not achieved it so far and we wanted to do it.
“To bowl them out for 154 was a great effort and then we finished them off with the bat.”
Proteas all-rounder Andrew Hall was named man of the match for his superb five for 18 during the England innings.
He said: “It’s been going very well. We’ve been very confident coming in after a good series back home.
“I think the guys in general have done exceptionally well.
“The guys have been playing well. We spoke about wanting to peak the right times.
“There were one or two games we would have wanted to have won to get an easier road into the semis but no-one is going to complain here.”
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