Napier, Feb 28: A win in Napier will see South Africa add the ODI trophy to their victory in the Twenty20s in New Zealand. Gary Kirsten, head coach, has made plain that South Africa's goals are to win every series they play, whether at home or away, and a triumph on his first visit abroad with the team will serve as a strong indication of what the team can offer in future.
So far, almost everything South Africa have tried has worked. They should not experiment too much in their quest to close out the series with a match to spare, but will likely continue to leave the No. 4 position flexible and use the part-time spinners to keep the opposition batsmen guessing.
What has been most impressive about South Africa's performances in New Zealand has been the apparent progress they have made in the mental side of the game. JP Duminy alluded to it after the first ODI when he spoke about how he, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis negotiated the tough period after the loss of three early wickets. South Africa have embraced pressure on the tour so far and will want to do so again, as proof of their ability to deal with it.
After starting the tour brightly, with victory in the first T20, New Zealand have let South Africa have the better of them. Always a shrewd side, New Zealand will have to think harder than normal to come up with ways to beat a South African side who seem to have an answer for everything.
New Zealand have had recent success at McLean Park. They beat Zimbabwe by 202 runs in an ODI at the venue two and a half weeks ago. In addition to the magnitude of the win, the massive 373 for 8 New Zealand piled on in that game with buoy them, after a below-par batting performance in the Wellington ODI. They cannot hope to maul South Africa's exponentially more dangerous attack the same way they did Zimbabwe's but they can hope to make better use of home conditions in an attempt to take the series to a decider.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 IST