What’s the story?
AB de Villiers has bitter memories the last time when he was in New Zealand, losing a nail-biting World Cup semi-final encounter to the hosts and being denied a berth in the final clash against the Australians a few days later. But the Proteas are determined to pay-back and de-throne the Kiwis in the own kingdom when they pay a visit Down Under later this month.
Extra Cover: South Africa storm to No.1 in One-Day International rankings
de Villiers is determined to right the wrongs and had this to say in an interview with Hindustan Times, “We’ve got a bit of unfinished business there from the 2015 World Cup and we’re very keen to play good cricket against a team that has also been playing well. I think we deserve to be number one and we want to carry on playing the way we have been.”
In case you didn’t know...
A dejected AB De Villiers walked out of Eden Park during the semi-final of the 2015 ICC Cricket World, which was a heartbreaking sight for every cricket lover. The South African batsman was in fine form in the game but rain interrupted the game and halted his innings when he was on 65 runs
The heart of the matter
Faf du Plessis will lead the African side in the one-off T20 Internationals, and the three-match Test series which follows the ODIs. The attacking batsman feels that coping up with the jet lag will be very important for the fate of the tour.
“Normally we go there and we’ve got about a week to ten days to get over jet lag. We rested a lot of players from our (losing) T20 series against Sri Lanka but we still should have won. All our players are back now and we’ve got an opportunity to perform well in a one-off game,” said the South African test captain.
South Africa whitewashed Sri-Lanka in the recently concluded ODI series 5-0 and were crowned as the No. 1 ODI team in the world. Amla and du Plessis have performed extraordinarily against Sri Lanka and would definitely like to continue their dream run in New Zealand.
What's next?
The Proteas will leave for New Zealand on Saturday but will hardly have five days before they face the Kiwis in the one-off T20 international fixture he Eden Park, in Auckland. It will be followed by a 5-match ODI series beginning on the February 19. The three-match Test series will get underway in Dunedin on March 8.
Sportskeeda’s take
New Zealand recently defeated world champions Australia 2-0 in the recently concluded Chapell-Hadlee trophy and the players are looking in good shape, with speedster Trent Boult at his best.
Extra Cover: Amla leads batting blitz as South Africa seal whitewash
On the other hand, the South African team hammered the Lankan’s at home, winning the Test and ODI series with ease. With both the teams in prime form, it is going to be a hard-fought tour and should see a few nail-biting encounters.
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