De Villiers mostly pleased with win

ABDeVilliers

De Villiers made an unbeaten 89 as the tourists fought their way to victory in the opening one-day international in Mount Maunganui.

But South Africa allowed the hosts to make 230 after having them at 156-9, and De Villiers said that was the only downside of the performance.

"All in all, I was very happy with the performance," he told Sky Sport New Zealand.

"I can't fault the bowlers' efforts and the skill they showed to get them to nine down, but it's still nine down.

"We've got to finish games of cricket, especially big games of cricket coming up - thinking of World Cups and must-wins in the World Cup campaign.

"If we get teams to nine down after 35 overs, you have to finish them off so that's probably the only negative point.

"Other than that, we played pretty good cricket. Having gone three or four down with the bat in hand, the way we fought back with the bat was very pleasing."

Luke Ronchi (99) helped New Zealand to a competitive total, combining for a 74-run 10th-wicket stand with Trent Boult (unbeaten 21).

South Africa were 97-4 in the 25th over before De Villiers and JP Duminy (58 not out) guided them to victory with 11 balls to spare.

De Villiers said the wicket made it difficult for him, but also forced him to be patient.

"We felt pretty good. A funny kind of wicket," he said.

"One of those where I personally didn't feel like I was in at any stage. It maybe played into my hands, forced me to be a little more conservative and I was lucky enough to see it through to the end with JP."

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