Yesterday the English beat the Proteas by nine wickets in Kensington to claim the Test series 2-1.

The defeat also meant South Africa had lost back-to-back Tests against the English, however the Proteas remain second on the World Test Championship table.

Boucher said they let themselves down, especially in the batting department.

“I'm disappointed, it was a missed opportunity. We played some good cricket, but we let ourselves down and we never put the runs on the board, so we never knew how we could test England in a way.

“We believed we had the bowlers to take 20 wickets, but bottom line, you've got to score the runs and we never got them on board.

“Our guys didn't go out and play maverick cricket - we tried really hard - but they got tested and fell short with their batting technically and some good bowling. We knew England had a good bowling attack, unfortunately, we couldn't stand up to it.”

Meanwhile, Boucher has resigned and his last act as the national coach will be to take the Proteas to the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia next month.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport