The speedster, speaking after South Africa's seven-wicket CWC semi-final defeat to Australia in St. Lucia on Wednesday, highlighted the Proteas' inconsistency as the main reason for yet another failed World Cup campaign.

"Last night's performance followed the trend of our World Cup; we either played very well or we played very poorly," said Donald.

"But this was our worst performance of the tournament and, possibly, the worst [performance] in any World Cup semi-final."

Inconsistency aside, Donald also blamed SA's lack of invention and variety, with the champion paceman adding: "The guys were horribly exposed in this tournament for not having a varied bowling attack and failing to come up with an alternative strategy.

"The bowling attack was one-paced and one-dimensional and we lack a quality spinner. We really should have taken a Nicky Bojé-type player with. And they made it clear that Robin Peterson was going to be a bit-part player."

Donald rightly pointed out that the two sides contesting the final - Sri Lanka and Australia - both boasted varied bowling attacks.

"We lack the pace of a Shaun Tait or a Lasith Malinga. It just goes to show that with genuine pace you can get wickets," he said.

"[Then in support] Australia also have Glenn McGrath, who is pure class and Brad Hogg, who takes wickets as a spinner; something we don't have."

Interestingly, Donald believes South Africa's approach against the world champions was the correct one, although their execution - and in retrospect their ability to think on their feet and change tact - was poor.

"They had the right approach. [Graeme] Smith made a statement that they were going to take on the Australian bowlers. I think it was the right thing to do," he began.

"But after they were three wickets down with only 26 runs on the board, they should have changed the plan... instead they carried on."

Donald added: "SA were then reduced to 27/5 for following the same approach that had got them into trouble in the first place.

"You've just got to have a back-up plan; when we were three wickets down, he should have changed the plan and consolidated in a bid to get around 250."

Moreover, Donald - who was at the centre of SA's dramatic tied semi-final match against Australia in 1999 - believes that this loss will help little to dispel the Proteas' "chokers" tag, whilst they might also now have to deal with the added burden of being termed "one-dimensional".

By Matthew Marcus