AB de Villiers has told South Africa to "wake up and play proper cricket" in the fourth and final Test with England which begins on Friday at Centurion.
England, have already won the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead, but De Villiers wants to restore some pride and respectability after a miserable year of Test cricket in which they failed to win a single match, despite being top of the world rankings.
"There are no dead rubbers when it comes to Test match cricket. We'd hate to lose 3-0. I think 2-1 sounds a lot better," he said.
"We haven't won a Test match for 12 months. We are rebuilding a bit and trying to find our feet but it's time for us to wake up and play proper cricket."
De Villiers was appointed as Test captain for the last two Tests of the series after Hashim Amla stepped down from the role.
And the batsman says he wants to stay on beyond the England series and lead the team when they face New Zealand in August.
But De Villiers says the team needs to change its approach, and wants "a few smart heads" recruited in the team's back-up staff.
"I am keen to play a big role going forward but it's not solely my decision," he said. "I've seen a lot of talent come through. We just need to get a bit of experience and a few smart heads involved."
He wants to meet Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat and convener of selectors Linda Zondi "to find out exactly where we are going to go".
There has been criticism of the lack of hard experience in the South African coaching set-up and in particular the lack of a batting coach.
De Villiers agreed that a batting coach was a priority.
"I think we have been a bit naïve in believing we can just go on in the way we have been," he said. "We need to get a bit of advice and help, not only from a batting coach, a few other areas as well.
"That will all be discussed after the series. We have a nice break and time to think about things."
De Villiers confirmed that opening batsman Stephen Cook would make his debut on Friday and also hinted that seamer Kyle Abbott and off-spinner Dane Piedt would return to the side.
And he says that despite losing two of the three matchers so far, England are beatable.
"[England] seem to know what they are doing [but] there is no doubt in my mind that there are weaknesses there," he said.
"The batting unit is not 100 percent the best in the world. I believe we can find a few cracks in the batting line-up."