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Harry Brook sympathised with short-changed supporters who witnessed England's Headingley humiliation to South Africa, admitting: 'Nobody wants to come and watch a game like that.'
England could not recover from the infuriating dismissal of Brook as his run out sparked a spree of eight wickets for just 49 runs, plunging them to a seven-wicket defeat in which fewer than half of the match's scheduled overs were used.
'A lot of teams would make excuses, but we're not about making excuses. At the end of the day, that batting performance wasn't good enough. I think everybody will hold their hands up and say that they weren't good enough. Look, we just had a bad day. We've just got to put it behind us and move onto Lord's,' Brook said, following the first defeat of his tenure as England's white-ball captain.
It was also a nightmare start to his international career for Hampshire fast bowler Sonny Baker, who was out first ball and then returned figures of 7-0-76-0 after being targeted by Aiden Markram in South Africa's chase of 132.
Brook said of the 22-year-old Ashes hopeful: 'Everybody will get behind him, that's the nature of this group.'
There will be little time for England to lick their wounds, however, with the second match of three in London on Thursday.
Harry Brook sympathised with short-changed supporters who witnessed England's Headingley humiliation to South Africa
England could not recover from the infuriating dismissal of Brook as his run out sparked a spree of eight wickets for just 49 runs
Brook's Headingley homecoming turned into a horror show as England were thrashed by South Africa.
An inexplicable batting collapse in Brook's first game in charge at his Yorkshire county headquarters since being appointed permanent England captain saw their final seven wickets fall for just 29 runs on a largely blameless surface.
Then, defending an anaemic 131, England's new fast bowling find Baker endured not so much a baptism of fire as a debut from hell.
It was a performance featuring all the hallmarks of the abject capitulation to the South Africans in Karachi six months ago that cost Jos Buttler the white-ball job, led to England returning home from the Champions Trophy in disgrace, and looking to Brook to instil new direction in their limited-overs cricket.
That 19th defeat in 26 one-day internationals was also partly responsible for England choosing a full-strength squad for this series, despite its relative proximity to the Ashes.
Such long-term form has left them vulnerable to being drawn into a three-way scrap with West Indies and Bangladesh for the final two automatic places for the 2027 World Cup and therefore unable to rest key personnel ahead of the five-Test tour of Australia starting in November.
Granted, the 3-0 whitewash of the Windies earlier this summer bought some breathing space, but returning to type here and in New Zealand this autumn will increase the probability of having to go into the pre-tournament qualifying competition in 18 months' time.
Yes, the players were not helped by the ridiculous scheduling that meant the five players involved in Sunday's Hundred final did not arrive in Leeds until late afternoon on Monday, foregoing pre-match practice with their team-mates as a result.
It was also a nightmare start to his international career for Hampshire fast bowler Sonny Baker
But even Brook, reflecting on his first defeat in seven outings since his spring appointment, refused to deflect blame elsewhere for the most galling of performances.
Rustiness was inevitable in switching to the pace of the 50-over format, but you wouldn't have guessed that the seven-strong batting unit had been playing at all in recent weeks - albeit in the Hundred.
Ironically it was around the 100-ball mark of the innings that England began to plumb the humiliating depths when Jamie Smith, who won the fight for fluency early in his innings to reach a 46-ball half century, picked out a diving fine leg from an innocuous-looking short ball from Wiaan Mulder.
Smith had also been involved in the dismissal that opened the door for South Africa: the run out of Brook, who paid for overcommitting to a second run that was never there when Tristan Stubbs' throw-on-the-bounce into wicketkeeper Ryan Rickelton's gloves comfortably defeated a desperate full-length dive.
Even without resting attack spearhead Kagiso Rabada, South Africa, as they showed in the 2-1 win in Australia last month, know how to take wickets.
Five of them here came from edges as England succumbed for their lowest score in an ODI in Leeds for more than 50 years - stretching back to the 1975 World Cup semi-final when Australia bundled them out for just 93.
It meant England had fewer runs to play with than on that miserable day against the Proteas in March, and their efforts with the bat were put into context when fast bowling find Baker was mercilessly targeted by Markram.
Five balls into his international career, the 22-year-old Hampshire paceman had been taken for 14 runs.
Fast bowling find Baker was mercilessly targeted by Aiden Markram in South Africa's chase of 132
Partly out of loyalty, partly out of necessity because England were fielding a three-pronged seam attack, Brook stuck with Baker from the Football Stand End. But things did not get any better.
As Markram galloped to a 23-ball 50, scoring 36 of them before opening partner Rickelton had got off the mark, Baker was taken for 11 boundaries in an initial four-over burst that cost 56.
England believed they had dismissed Rickelton for nought in the second over when Joe Root scooped up a low slip catch off Jofra Archer, only for third umpire Sharfuddoulah to rule that the ball had brushed grass before being clutched by fingers.
The eventual first breakthrough - shortly after the floodlights went on, and not long before the contest's lights went out after a combined 45.2 overs - also required an umpire review as Smith hauled in Markram's aerial drive at cover and swept the ball perilously close to the turf in the process.
Two further successes by Adil Rashid on his home ground narrowed the margin of the thrashing, but England head to Lord's on Thursday needing more than a little late spin to persuade people they can get finally their white-ball game heading in the right direction.
