There was always a risk of it going like this. Despite Australia’s best efforts to hang tough with South Africa through the first four days of the fourth Test, the calamitous collapse remained the ending most likely. It took one ball for Vernon Philander to get his name in the book on the fifth morning and four deliveries to claim both Marsh brothers. Less than an hour and a half later, Australia had lost seven for 31 and the match by a massive 492 runs – the worst result for the baggy greens against any nation since 1934. At one stage, Philander snared six wickets in a row, conceding three runs. It was one of those mornings.

But when Tim Paine walked out to explain it all, his words were more important than the wickets that fell. Such is the state of Australian cricket now, expectations low as can be, the new captain’s messaging task is as critical as any other part of his job – surely the most difficult in the sport. After watching the Proteas raise the trophy, their first win at home in these contests since 1970, he conceded that the ball-tampering saga had finally worn his team down after what he called a “brutal” week.

“If you are slightly off mentally in Test cricket you get exposed,” he began. “We’re disappointed with the way we handled it. This group in here had the chance to show some real fight and determination and unfortunately, we weren’t able to because I think mentally we weren’t quite there. You only have to be slightly off in any game of cricket, let alone [against] a team as good as South Africa, and you get exposed. We certainly were today.”

With cricket out of the way, Paine was able to return to his broader script, one he is steadily adding to each time he speaks. “Winning covers over a lot of cracks,” he told ABC. “There was probably some noise being made from the public in the last year or so and the guys thought maybe while we kept winning and playing a certain brand of cricket, while it was working we wouldn’t change it. But I think it has got to the stage now where we need to listen to our fans and Australian public and give them a cricket team that they are proud of.”

Paine observed that a “head in the sand” approach had prevailed for too long. “What we’ve probably found out in the past month or so is that the Australian public and our fans don’t necessarily like the way we go about it. It’s pretty simple. We have to listen. We have to take it on board and we have to improve our behaviour in the way we play the game.”

Tim Paine speaks to the media in South Africa after Australia’s 3-1 series defeat. Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images

But here’s the trick: the Australian public don’t like losers, either. “Nice guys finish second,” Dean Elgar said of the visitors’ distinctly hands-off approach in this Test. Paine understands the need for that balance. “In this game, whether it was to do with what happened during the week, we want to be really respectful but we also want to be really competitive,” Paine said of that unenviable task. “It is still Test match cricket and it is going to be now tweaking that to make sure we are finding the balance between respecting the game, respecting the opposition and playing in a way that allows us to get right in the contest.”

Despite it being Darren Lehmann’s final Test in charge, he was nowhere to be seen. He had, evidently, said all he was going to at his resignation press conference. But this is a time for new voices. Paine’s voice. A week ago in Cape Town, he was unsure if full-time captaincy was the right role for him. Now he is, dedicating himself to the rebuilding job.

As to whether that translates to the white-ball leadership, he is unsure. But with 11 one-day and T20 internationals scheduled for the team before their next Test in the United Arab Emirates in October, the Cricket Australia board could do a lot worse than back him exclusively.

That can all wait. For now, it is rest they so desperately require. “We need to get better quickly but we have got a bit of time off now, so we can go home and take a breath and reassess and go from there.” A big, long, deep breath.