Cameron Bancroft risks being suspended from the fourth cricket Test against South Africa over a ball-tampering charge but the young opener accepts damage to his reputation will linger far longer.

Bancroft used tape in an effort to illegally alter the ball on day three of the third Test in Cape Town.

Match referee Andy Pycroft has levelled a level-two charge of ball tampering, with Bancroft facing a hefty fine and either three or four demerit points.

Four points would trigger a one-Test suspension, forcing him to miss the final chapter of the acrimonious four-Test series.

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis was given three demerit points over his ball-tampering charge resulting from 'mint-gate' in 2016 but Bancroft's act was arguably worse given he attempted to deceive umpires.

Acting on the advice of the team's leadership group, including Steve Smith, Bancroft worked on the ball with the tape then was summoned by umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth.

As Llong and Illingworth analysed the state of the ball, the 25-year-old took the tape out of his pocket and stuffed it in his underpants. Bancroft then showed the officials a different cloth.

"I'm not proud of what's happened and I have to live with the consequences and the damage to my own reputation that comes with," Bancroft told reporters.

"I'll do my best to move forward and play cricket.

"I saw an opportunity to use some tape, get some granules from rough patches on the wicket, to change the ball condition.

"It didn't work. The umpires didn't change the ball.

"Once being sighted on the screen I panicked quite a lot and that resulted in me shoving it down my trousers."

The perception outside the team is that Bancroft, being the most inexperienced member of Australia's XI, was ordered or coerced to carry out the illegal act.

Bancroft denied that was the case.

"I was in the vicinity of the area when the leadership group were discussing it," he said.

"I was obviously nervous about it. Because with hundreds of cameras around that's always the risk, isn't it?

"I sit before you today and I'm not proud of what's happened today.

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I want to be here (taking ownership of the mistake) because I'm accountable for my actions."

Bancroft has had an eventful start to his eight-Test career, with an unbeaten 82 on debut being overshadowed by revelations he was headbutted by Jonny Bairstow at a Perth nightclub.

The West Australian's moment of shame came a day after he scored 77 at Newlands, arguably his most important and impressive innings yet.

"If you're caught doing the wrong thing, you've got to pay the penalty," former Australia captain Allan Border said on commentary.

Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith was also vocal in a chorus of condemnation, describing the footage of Bancroft trying to hide the tape as "damning".