Captain Quinton de Kock struggled to explain another poor performance, as South Africa lost Wednesday's third and final T20I against Australia at Newlands in Cape Town by 97 runs.
The result afforded the tourists a two-one series win. The teams will soon contest three ODIs in Paarl, Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom.
Pursuing a 194-run target after half-centuries from openers David Warner and Aaron Finch had powered Australia to a final total of 193 for five, South Africa slipped to 96 all out.
“It's just another blowout. Obviously it's not good enough doing it twice in one series. We are going to have to have a good look at ourselves and ask some honest questions,” said de Kock.
De Kock succeeded former T20I captain Faf du Plessis earlier this year – and has since conceded series defeats to England and Australia. He will captain South Africa at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. The Proteas have been pooled with England, India, Afghanistan and two qualifying teams for the tournament. South Africa are offered at 7.50 by bet365 to win the 2020 T20 World Cup.
De Kock on captaincy
“I am still taking it in my stride. I am still learning. There's a lot of things that I didn't see when I was just a normal player. I am asking a lot of advice from Faf. I hope I can get better and put the results on the board,” added de Kock, who explained the decision to omit fast bowler Dale Steyn from Wednesday's XI in favour of the inexperienced Anrich Nortje.
“After Anrich's performance, we thought he deserved another chance. We all know what Dale can do.”
The hosts lost 13 wickets to leg-spinner Adam Zampa and left-arm finger-spinner Ashton Agar throughout the three-match series. Zampa took five to Agar's eight. The latter's haul included a hat-trick in the series opener at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
“I don't think it's a technical thing. It can boil down to situations in the game. Or it could also be a confidence thing, I am not sure. I am not in the other batsmen's minds. We've got some really good players of spin. But in saying that their two spinners bowled really well. They didn't give much away,” concluded de Kock.
