England captain Eoin Morgan rued his team's rare insipid performance in ODIs, against South Africa in the first game of the three-match series in Cape Town this Tuesday (February 4), as the reigning world champions failed miserably with the bat and ball to go down heavily despite facing a largely inexperienced Proteas outfit. 

The visitors could manage a total of just 258/8 in their allotted number of overs; with only middle-order batsman Joe Denly making a score past the 50-run mark; before hundred from opposition captain Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma's solid knock propelled the hosts easily past the finish line; no one from the England bowling unit posed a major threat to them.  

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"We were way off the mark, and we were hurt," Morgan said at the post-match presentation ceremony. "South Africa completely outplayed us today in all departments. We've got no excuses. We didn't adapt to the conditions today that were set in front of us, [because] we knew it wasn't going to be an absolute run-fest."

"But every batsman, apart from suppose Joe Denly and Chris Woakes really struggled to get going, which probably emphasises that we are a little bit rusty." 

"But South Africa bowled well and accurately, they used the conditions really well with slower balls, and then we couldn't penetrate the partnership between de Kock and Bavuma, so it made things very difficult for us. But full credit to them, they've started the series very well."

Playing its first ODI in five months post the big glory back home, underprepared England perhaps misjudged the surface and didn't adjust to it quickly enough. 

"I think we lacked adaptation to the skill level that was needed," Morgan admitted. "The guys up front came hard like they normally do, as we always try and do, but when that didn't come off we had to try and rein in in a little bit."

"I think we lost wickets in clusters, and when myself and Joe [Root] went at the same time, we continue to lose wickets until the Woakes and Denly partnership. But I suppose that total would only get us in the game if we if we bowled well and managed to take early wickets. but having let those guys get themselves in, it was a struggle to drag things back."

In absence of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, England handed debut caps to Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson, who are part of the team's plans for the future. "I think they learned a huge amount," said Morgan. "Failure is a huge platform to try and catapult yourself forward, and learn from your mistakes. As soon as you can, [you have to] implement them into this series."

"I think the two guys making their debuts. Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson, have come in today and seen what international cricket is like," he added. 

"They've had a little glimpse of T20 international cricket but it's not all crash, bang, wallop, like we've seen today. So they learn a lot from tonight and hopefully take that into the rest of the series."

(Inputs from ESPNcricinfo)