We have faced greater adversity than this before so, although we’re very disappointed, we know we can still get things back on track with victories over New Zealand and England in our last two group games.

We were very tentative with the ball, especially the first 20 overs. We didn’t do the basics well and, despite preparing as well as we possibly could, the lack of hard match practice in the last three months showed quite clearly. It’s no excuse – we did as much as we could to be match-ready but there’s no substitute for the real thing.

Ajantha Mendis obviously had a huge impact once Jacques and me had tried to lay the platform for what was always going to be a tough run chase. He’s very different to most spinners. It was the first time we’ve seen him live – and it’s very different seeing a guy like him during a video analysis session and actually facing him. He bowled well. Very well. He has some unique skills and should be applauded and celebrated for that.

Our final two games are now ‘must-win’ matches which brings a different sort of pressure but, once again, not something we are unfamiliar with. We all know that the best way to succeed is to relax and trust yourself and your team mates. It doesn’t do any good worrying and stressing about the result. It’s the next delivery that counts.

At the same time it’s vital that we are honest with ourselves as individuals and as a team and face up to why it went wrong against Sri Lanka and how we can improve. It’s a very quick turnaround between games and but we will be doing everything in our power to ensure we do ourselves justice on Thursday.

Despite the overall success of the last 18 months there have been low moments when we have underperformed and let ourselves down. One of the key ingredients to bouncing back from those days is to acknowledge your mistakes and accept the responsibility for putting them right.

We started that process straight after the game and will discuss it further on Wednesday morning. Then we will do the ‘practical’ in the nets at Centurion in the afternoon.

Having said all that, it would be wrong to concentrate purely on our shortcomings without paying proper credit to Sri Lanka. Tillekeratne Dilshan made a brilliant century and the innings by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were world class.

We know we are capable of performing a lot better and we are certainly capable of beating both New Zealand and England if we play to our potential, but we have to get ourselves to that level very quickly.