"Our Proteas are always ready for a fight" - Ecstatic AB de Villiers reacts after South Africa beat New Zealand in 2nd Test

AB de Villiers showered praise on the South Africa's cricketers as they pulled off a scintillating victory against New Zealand in Christchurch to end the series 1-1.

Coming back from a humiliating defeat, the Proteas dominated most of the 2nd Test to beat the Kiwis by 198 runs. Along with praising the cricketers, de Villiers also spoke highly of captain Dean Elgar and head coach Mark Boucher.

Taking to Twitter, the former South African captain wrote:

"Our Proteas r always ready for a fight! Well done lads. Congrats Sarel Erwee & Kyle Verreynne on your maiden Test tons, no better feeling. Well deserved! And then, @KagisoRabada25 showing us his class again with both bat and ball. @markb46 & Elgar’s leadership SO clear to see."

Sarel Erwee scored his maiden Test century in the first innings to propel South Africa to 364. In reply, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen starred with the ball as the visitors secured a sizeable first innings lead.

In reply, the Black Caps managed to reduce South Africa to 38/3 but Kyle Verreynne's knock of 136 put the visiting side on top, setting a target of 426. Chasing a daunting total, Devon Conway and Tom Blundell tried to put up a fight but Rabada and Jansen were at it again to knock out the hosts to end the series in a draw.

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"We needed to rise up and make a stand for ourselves" - South Africa captain Dean Elgar

The 31-year-old Elgar was a happy man and hailed his teammates for showing character while staring down the barrel after defeat in the 1st Test.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Dean Elgar said:

“We've shown in the past that we've got a lot of characters within our unit and, ultimately, we needed characters to come out again and rise up and make a stand for us to try and level the series.”

Elgar also asserted that this win will help the side, moving forward. Their next Test assignment will be at home when they host Bangladesh in April.