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South Africa's all-rounder JP Duminy on Thursday apologised to the Proteas fans for the team's dismal performance in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup.
South Africa lost their match against Pakistan on Sunday, which ruled them from a semi-final place contention in the tournament. "I think the most disappointing part has been our team performance and I think it will be amiss of me not to mention how disappointed we are, particularly letting all our fans down back home," Sport24.co.za quoted Duminy as saying.
"It's been pretty dismal from our part and we wish we could point out the reason why we haven't performed. We obviously want to apologise to the public and the South African fans for letting them down," he added.
Duminy said that the team left no stone unturned while preparing for the tournament and said that when the team performs in the fashion South Africa has, the players feeling ashamed.
"I think we've put in a lot of effort in terms of our preparation, in terms of our strategy, going out there with a good mindset, a strong mindset. And when you put in performances like that, you in a way almost feel ashamed of that," Duminy said.
"But we know that it's not all lost ... I believe that this team will come back stronger," he added.
Duminy played first three matches but he was just able to score 56 runs in them, which saw him getting dropped from the team's subsequent matches.
The left-handed batsman before the World Cup had announced that he would be retiring from ODI cricket.
South Africa have had a poor campaign in the World Cup so far. The team has been able to win just one match in the tournament.
The Proteas defeated Afghanistan, but they suffered losses at the hands of England, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand and Pakistan. Their match against West Indies had gotten abandoned due to rain.
South Africa are languishing at the ninth position in the tournament standings with just three points.
The team next takes on Sri Lanka on Friday.