On Sunday, Australia’s stand-in skipper Tim Paine acknowledged that his team was “struggling with the enormity” of the ball-tampering scandal which has engulfed them. Paine was drafted in to replace Steven Smith who stood down as captain for the remainder of the match after accepting he led the tampering plot which left a huge stain on the sport. It proved a ritual of fire for the Paine as Australia’s day of shame ended in a crushing 322-run defeat by South Africa on the fourth day of the third Test at Newlands.

Set an unlikely target of 430, Australia were bowled out for a mere 107, with pacer Morne Morkel taking five for 23. Talking about the same, Paine said, ”It was extremely difficult but it’s no excuse for what happened in the last 45 minutes of play. We’re still the Australian cricket team and were expected to put up a better effort than we did. Certainly, it was in some horrible circumstances and probably some circumstances we brought on ourselves.”

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Those features included Smith being handed for a suspension for one match and fined 100 percent of his match fee for his role in hatching the plot which saw Cameron Bancroft caught red-handed trying to change the condition of the ball during Saturday’s play with yellow sticky tape which he shoved down the front of his trousers in an attempt to conceal it. Bancroft, who acknowledged the charge, escaped a ban but was fined 75 percent of his fee and warned about his behavior.

Describing more about the incident, Tim said, “It has been a horrible 24 hours. We’re struggling but the reality and the enormity of what’s happened have probably started to sink in. I don’t think we expected this to be as big as it has been, the fall-out we have seen from back home.”

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Paine also acknowledged that he has no idea if he will still be in charge for the fourth and final Test starting in Johannesburg on Friday. By then, it’s possible that Smith may have stepped down, been sacked or even handed a longer ban for his role in one of the sport’s worst cheating scandals.

Smith made only seven runs on Sunday while David Warner, who also stood down from his role as deputy skipper, top-scored with 32. Both men, as well as Bancroft, were loudly booed by the Newlands crowd.