We were stuck in second gear, rues AB de Villiers

South Africa captain AB de Villiers took responsibility for the shock 29-run World Cup loss to Pakistan, blasting his team for being stuck in "second or third gear".

"I'm not blaming anyone. I'm not saying anyone didn't have the energy. I just didn't feel any electric vibe at the warm-up," said de Villiers. "That is normally a bit of an alarm bell going off for me. It is my responsibility to try to get the guys going, which I couldn't, so maybe I should take responsibility for that. I just could feel that nothing was really happening at a hundred percent. It was almost like a car that's stuck in second or third gear, and that's not going to win you cricket games, especially not under pressure and in big tournaments like this.

"So we need to have a chat about what maybe went wrong tonight and try to get to fifth gear again against the UAE," said De Villiers, of their concluding pool game in Wellington on Thursday.

De Villiers described the loss as "disappointing."

"Once again we seemed to not get enough partnerships in pressure situations. We've done it in the past, but unfortunately tonight we couldn't do that, so it's a very disappointing loss," he admitted.

"I felt that Pakistan wanted it more than us. There's nothing wrong with the batting. It's just a matter of urgency and being prepared to fight it out."

The South African captain was full of admiration for Pakistan's bowling. "They bowled pretty well tonight. They were geared up and really wanted to win the game. You could see that from a mile away. Every time we lost a wicket it was was a turning point. It was all about us not losing wickets and them picking up wickets," said the captain.

"I've got full faith in the ability of the players around me. That's why they're all here. I know I can't win this World Cup alone. I need my teammates."