AB defends Domingo, laments his own form

South Africa captain AB de Villiers said the fallout from his side's early exit from the ODI tri-series in the Caribbean could be "pretty bad" for embattled coach Russell Domingo but said the players must shoulder the blame.

And the star Proteas batsman has delivered an honest assessment of his own form throughout the tournament, which was statistically his worst ODI series in almost eight years.

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South Africa were comprehensively beaten in their do-or-die clash with the West Indies in Barbados on Saturday morning (AEST), thrashed by 100 runs despite reducing the home side to 4-21 after five overs.

The result is sure to ramp up the pressure on Domingo, coming just three months after Cricket South Africa (CSA) commissioned an independent review – which was put "on hold" earlier this month – of the national teams following their disappointing performances at the World T20.

De Villiers says the players, not Domingo, should be under the most pressure.

"It'll be pretty bad," the skipper said when asked whether speculation about Domingo’s position would continue after the series.

"Russell has played a pretty big role in all of our careers over the past four years. I've felt he's done a fantastic job and it would be sad to see him under pressure.

"It's definitely not the coaching stuff. The coaching staff, in my mind, are the best in the world with what they do and what they bring to the table.

"Unfortunately as players we let them down in this series.

"We had ample opportunity in a few games to really knuckle down.

"It comes down to the players. The preparation was perfect, all the coaching staff did their jobs.

"So it is sad to see Russell under pressure. It shouldn't be that way, it should be a few players that are under pressure."

Domingo, who took over from Gary Kirsten in July 2013, is contracted with CSA until April next year.

De Villiers also put his hand up for his performances throughout the series; scores of 31, 22, 39, 27 and 2 a return that is well below his own high standards.

It was the first time since they faced England in August 2008 that de Villiers had not posted a score of 50 of more in a series consisting of at least three matches.

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In his exclusive column for cricket.com.au during last year's World Cup, former teammate Jacques Kallis revealed how that tour of England – specifically a dressing-down from then captain Graeme Smith and then coach Mickey Arthur – was the turning point in the right-hander's decorated career.

Since then, he's averaged more than 58 in Test cricket and 62 in ODIs, posting an incredible 38 centuries across the two formats.

And he couldn't hide his disappointment on Saturday at his inability to convert starts into big scores during this series.

"A couple of us are out of form, myself included," he said.

"I had a poor series and would have loved to have played a bigger role and got a few more runs, but unfortunately it didn't happen.

"I got in four out of five times and didn't convert. There's no reason for me to get out after that because I'm seeing the ball well and four out of five times, I didn't (convert).

"Tonight I was dismissed (for 2) by a bowler (Windies quick Shannon Gabriel) who was bowling well, running in and got it to swing a little bit.

"That happens but the other four times, no excuses really. I just gave my wicket away at the wrong time and it's not good enough."

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De Villiers was particularly disappointed with his side's early exit given their strong performances in ODI cricket since their semi-final exit at the 2015 World Cup.

The Proteas suffered a shock 2-1 series loss in Bangladesh in July last year but since then have recorded series wins against New Zealand and England at home and India away.

On each occasion the Proteas won the deciding match of the series, their win over England particularly impressive given they'd lost the first two matches of the series but stormed home to win 3-2.

"We started something special in the last year after the World Cup," he said.

"There was definitely a belief that started in the camp that we could win from any position and make it work from any position. So it's pretty sad that we couldn't do that today and in this series.

"I don't think we were close to our best throughout the whole series. We still managed to win some games, which was a positive.

"But unfortunately when it mattered most tonight, we couldn't pull through. So it's very disappointing."