JP Duminy says South Africa’s execution with the ball, rather than their bowling plans, were one of the main reasons for their loss to England.

South Africa failed to defend 229 on a flat deck in Mumbai as England, led superbly by Joe Root’s 83, chased down the highest total in World T20 history.

The bowlers took a pounding, conceded 20 wides and the most experienced of them all, Dale Steyn, was so bad he only bowled two overs in which he leaked 35 runs.

‘We definitely would have backed ourselves defend 229, but you have to give credit where credit is due,’ Duminy said at the post-match press conference.

‘Yes, we didn’t bowl as well as we would have liked but they batted outstandingly, especially in those first six overs, where they put us under pressure from ball one. We sort of recovered a little bit in the middle but on a field like this and the wicket that we played on, when you are getting the asking rate under 10, that’s a tough one to defend.

‘Unfortunately we also let ourselves down from an extras point of view. It’s something we have to look at.’

South Africa come up against Afghanistan next at the same venue on Sunday. Duminy admitted they needed to improve in the bowling department, but insisted there were positives to take out of the England defeat.

‘There is a lot of positives to take out of it, especially from a batting point of view,’ he said. ‘There’s room for improvement from a bowling point of view, but we have to move on to the next game. It’s a quick turnaround for us.

The [bowling] plans were always there. Our execution wasn’t up to scratch against England,’ he said.

‘By no means are we out of the tournament. We understand that there is a lot more pressure on us now to make sure that we win pretty much every game, but it’s been done before.’