Centurion: Former star all-rounder Shaun Pollock said South Africa did not deserve to be branded 'chokers' depite being eliminated after the first round of the Champions Trophy which ended on Monday.

The 'Proteas', who played the least amount of international cricket of the eight teams in the build-up, have not won a major international title since lifting the Champions Trophy 11 years ago.

"It's difficult to find reasons why things went wrong," Pollock told AFP.

"There are always two teams and sometimes the other team just play better on the night.

"I think South Africa were a bit rusty in their first game (a loss to Sri Lanka) and in their second (a win against New Zealand) they played really well.

"In their third game I think they were just beaten by an England side that played as well as they have at any stage in the tournament."

But Pollock insists there is no need to press alarm bells as long as the 'Proteas' learnt from their failures.

"There is no need to panic," he stressed. "There is still a lot they can take out of this tournament."

Pollock said India had simply been unlucky after their second match against Australia was washed out.

"I would have expected them to go through," Pollock said.

"They're the form team in world cricket at the moment but, unfortunately, they had a no-result against Australia.

"I think they played really well against Pakistan in their first match (which they lost), but Pakistan were just better on the day."

With the hosts and crowd-pullers India eliminated, attendances dropped.

And despite South Africa and England announcing changes to their domestic one-day competitions to maintain enthusiasm while the Twenty20 format develops a strong following, Pollock said there remained a place for the 50-over format on a busy international schedule.

"I think there's still a place for it," he said. "There's no doubt that the buzz word at the moment is T20, but nobody knows what's going to happen five years down the line," he warned.

"I think it's good that the World Cup is still every four years, which gives it some prestige over a biennial tournament."