England v South Africa: Joe Root says batsmen have respect for Tests

New England captain Joe Root says it is "very unfair" to suggest his side's batsmen "lack respect" in their approach to Test cricket.

England were twice bowled out cheaply as they were thrashed by 340 runs in the second Test against South Africa.

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan has been critical of their performances at Trent Bridge on Test Match Special.

"We pride ourselves on winning series like this and unfortunately we played poorly this week," Root said.

• South Africa crush England to level series

"We are very disappointed with the way we played. We are a side that doesn't like giving anything away and that wasn't a fair representation of how good we are as a team," Root added.

England scored at just below four runs per over but were bowled out for a first-innings deficit of 130. In the second innings they were skittled for 133 in 44.2 overs.

"We didn't asses the situation quickly enough and were always battling to get back into the game," Root, 26, said.

On TMS, Vaughan said England needed to bat for longer periods, wear opposition bowlers down and lay a platform for aggressive players.

Reacting to Vaughan's comments about England lacking respect, Root said: "I think that's very unfair - I can't believe he's actually said that."

Monday's defeat was England's latest collapse when chasing high fourth-innings totals. And Root said the team will have to learn from it and change their method.

"It might have happened previously but we have to make sure we look forward to get better," Root said.

"The ways we have gone about learning previously haven't worked and we have got to look for something different and make sure we work very hard and it sticks."

'Philander the new Kallis'

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis compared Vernon Philander to legendary Proteas' all-rounder Jacques Kallis after he claimed five wickets and made 96 runs in a man-of-the-match performance against England.

"Vernon's a fantastic cricketer," Du Plessis said.

"If there's something there, he's the best in the world at exploiting it. We left a batsman out and that put responsibility on his shoulders to bat at number seven.

"He's becoming the new Jacques Kallis!"

Du Plessis said his return to the side "was not a factor" in South Africa's crushing 340-run win.

The captain missed the first Test, which England won at Lord's, following the birth of his child but returned as one of three changes to the line-up.

"There are a few obvious things that I focus on and that generally brings the best out of the team," the skipper added.

"We just focused on getting onto the things we do well, our intensity and the way we played.

"We know England are very strong and we needed to be at our best to beat them, and we were. We were in control pretty much from the toss."