'Has been an alarming tour'

This is his last official press conference on tour, and after a 3-0 thrashing culminating in the 200-run loss in the third ODI at Buffalo Park yesterday, there was not much fight left in skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. There were no positives to look for as a completely limp Bangladesh were bundled out for 169 on a pitch where South Africa had scored 369. Unlike the second ODI, when having fallen 104 short of a 353-run target Mashrafe talked about the possibility of a win if they had gotten centurion AB de Villiers early or if there were more partnerships, yesterday all he seemed to be hoping for was a decent score.

"When we saw the pitch yesterday [Saturday] I thought we should be okay chasing 280 to 300 runs. Our batting today was disappointing," Mashrafe said after the match. "Shakib [Al Hasan] and Sabbir [Rahman] later put together a good stand but those early wickets really made it impossible to raise a decent score.

Much like Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim after the 2-0 loss, there was a frank admission of the team's inadequacies.

"I think we do not have enough confidence to bat and bowl. But that has been happening since the Champions Trophy. Neither the batsmen nor the bowlers took responsibility. I think we have to find out from particular players what's happening. I don't think this can be solved by training a lot in South Africa. It is a long process.

"There have been one or two performances but not a total team effort. If we can't perform as a team it becomes difficult because as individuals we don't have the ability to turn matches singlehandedly. Maybe that is different at home," said Mashrafe. "It is even harder in these conditions for us to win if a number of our players don't perform together. We were not able to come back, maybe being mentally broken down, we couldn't do as well as we could have.

"This tour has been alarming for Bangladesh cricket and with a World Cup coming up we as a playing unit have to look after these things quickly."

While the batting has been a concern, the bowling seems even more so as Bangladesh have conceded 1,004 runs in the series in 142.5 overs while taking just 12 wickets.

"We were behind them in all aspects of the game. There will be flat wickets in places like South Africa and New Zealand, so our bowlers have to learn what to bowl here."

For once, the beloved Mashrafe has to take his fair share of the blame. He has not taken a wicket in the series and conceded runs at 7.22 an over, and yesterday he took the inexplicable decision to bowl part-timers -- with five specialists on the park -- after Mehedi Hasan Miraz had dismissed both set openers.

"My plan was to use the spinners to keep the pressure because they were bowling well at that time," Mashrafe said. However, the spinners he used were part-timers Mahmudullah Riyad and Sabbir Rahman, who conceded 41 from four overs to two new batsmen. That kind of formulaic thinking hearkens back to the dark days of 2014 -- never a good sign.