Ricky Ponting said his leading batsmen were guilty of poor shot selection and would have to lift if Australia was to win the deciding fifth one-day international against South Africa.
Australia sneaked home by one wicket with five balls to spare to level the series in Durban on Friday night, scoring 9-247 in reply to the home side's 9-246.
Stuart Clark, with his highest score of 16 not out, and Mick Lewis (4 not out) added the final six runs for victory after Andrew Symonds blasted 76 to steer Australia in the right direction.
Openers Simon Katich (46) and Adam Gilchrist (45) put on 87 but Ponting (7), Damien Martyn (1) and Michael Clarke (7) all failed as Australia lost 5-53 to be 5-140.
"It was really ordinary batting," Ponting said.
"Us winning the game covers up a lot of our deficiencies in the way we batted.
"To be none for 80 or whatever and four for 101, that's just not good enough.
"We just played some ordinary shots.
"When we are chasing in a cut-throat sort of game, batsmen have to take responsibility and we didn't do that tonight.
"The top of the order, except Damien probably, got out playing big aggressive strokes and we probably didn't need to.
"We've got to speak about the way we batted tonight and hopefully it will be better on Sunday."
Ponting said when Symonds was out at 7-218 and Brett Lee fell one ball later, Australia looked in serious trouble.
But Clark combined with Lewis and Nathan Bracken (7) for a stunning win as fans from Australia burst into a rendition of "Waltzing Matilda" in the stands at the Kingsmead ground.
"It looked like it might have been slipping out of our hands tonight," Ponting said.
"So that's the way we've got to look at it and not get carried away with our performances.
"We've had to dig really deep and find something to win. Our tailenders actually did a very good job. Bracken and Stuart Clark were tremendous."
The fifth match will be played in Johannesburg on Sunday followed by the first Test in Cape Town on Thursday.
Australia began the fourth game well with Bracken (2-36) removing Graeme Smith (1) and Herschelle Gibbs (1) as the Proteas struggled to 2-9 in the sixth over.
AB De Villiers scored 38 and Jacques Kallis, making his comeback from an elbow injury, was caught in the deep for 21.
Lewis (2-38) removed Mark Boucher for 19 and Justin Kemp also fell cheaply (1).
Shaun Pollock ensured South Africa a solid total by smashing 53 not out.
Pollock's 28-ball 50 outshone opener Boeta Dippenaar (101) in a seventh-wicket stand of 82.
Pollock bowled five overs for 22 before going off with a lower-back spasm while man-of-the-match Dippenaar spent the second half of the game on a saline drip for dehydration.