Wednesday 28 March 2018 09:52, UK
Australia's stand-in captain Tim Paine has apologised for the ball-tampering incident and described the fall-out as "a horrible 24 hours".
South Africa seamer Morne Morkel ripped through the Australian batting line-up on Sunday to inflict a comprehensive 322-run defeat in the controversial third Test in Cape Town.
The visitors have been caught up in a storm since Steve Smith confessed on Saturday that senior players had hatched a plan to tamper with the ball and were booed and whistled throughout the fourth day as they were skittled out for 107 in their second innings.
On Sunday morning, Smith and David Warner stood down as captain and vice-captain for the rest of the Test with Paine handed captaincy responsibilities.
"It's been an absolutely horrible 24 hours to be perfectly honest," Paine said.
"I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise to our fans, all the Australians back home and the guys that have travelled over here.
"They deserve better than what we put up yesterday. That's all I can say on the matter at the moment."
Morkel picked up five wickets for 23 runs as the hosts took a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
The way in which Australia collapsed at the end of a match indicated a team which has been rocked internally by the controversy and the reaction to it - with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull among those to speak out.
"It was difficult, no doubt," Paine added. "That was one of the things that we spoke about this morning, that one of the things we can control is we can go out today and compete and we're cricketers.
"From that cricket perspective it was extremely disappointing the way I suppose we folded in that last hour, 45 minutes. It was really disappointing on top of what was a really horrible Test match."
The final Test between Australia and South Africa gets going on March 30.
Paine added: "It's been difficult for all of us over the last 24 hours. It's been a real challenge for us but I suppose from this down the track there's an opportunity for us all to grow from this as a team and as individuals.
I think we've got to take some kind of positive out of that long term and turn ourselves into the cricket team we want to be."
