``None of us applied ourselves. It was a devastating sight to see batsmen going and returning after playing reckless shots,'' Anwar said from Lahore. Anwar stated that none of the batsmen except Inzamamul Haq fell to good balls. ``It was just senseless and irresponsible batting and nothing else. The batsmen will have to change their attitude and commitment as we will be against three best one-day teams followed by a three-Test series against the West Indies in the next six weeks.''

Anwar said he too was to be blamed. ``I played very badly in the entire series. This is not supposed to be a performance from a leader but the factual position is that I am undergoing a bad patch which is bound to hit a professional. I got out to a shot which normally bisects cover and mid-off but when you are off-colour, everything goes against you.''

But Anwar also defended his batsmen by saying that too much of one-day cricket has spoiled their techniques. ``Why didn't the South Africans fall to lose shots because they play limited one-day cricket. In the last 12 months, we have played more than 45 one-dayers which is too much by any means.''

Anwar had all praise for his bowlers. ``They did what was required from them. But if you can't score 146, then you need to go back to the basics of batting in Test cricket.''

Anwar, while concluding the match, said South Africa outplayed his team in the crucial stage of the match. ``We dominated the proceedings for the first three days. On the fourth day, we were all at bay because we were convincingly outplayed, courtesy some bad shots.

``It devastates when you lose the game after dictating terms for the first three days but that's cricket. It's the way it is played and it's chiefly why South Africa are one of the most dangerous and fighting teams.''