SA vs NZ T20 : Proteas planning to sharpen the attack : Preview

It was with the bat in hand that the South Africans clubbed the Black Caps to death during Sunday's second Twenty20 match at Seddon Park in Hamilton.   
                           SA vs NZ T20 :  3rd T20

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But on the eve of today's deciding hit-out in Auckland, Proteas skipper AB de Villiers was more concerned that his bowlers up their game rather than whether the purple patch with the willow would continue.

Batting first in Hamilton, the Black Caps looked relatively comfortable on their way to a score of 173 for four.

Comfortable, that is, until 24-year-old opener Richard Levi responded with a brutal and unbeaten 117 from 51 balls to secure victory for his side.

In the end, it was a dominant performance by the South Africans. But it was also, in the words of the touring captain de Villiers, a performance that was far from complete.

"We still didn't have the perfect performance even though we won," de Villiers said.

"I thought we batted really well but maybe there's 10 to 20 per cent that we need to work on in the bowling department.

"You never know; there might be a change [to the playing side] somewhere there but at the moment I have no idea because we are still deciding.

"We will decide [on the team] tonight. There might be a change or maybe not.

"We will see. We had a good game in the previous one so we wouldn't like to change too much.

"But you never know. I'll have a chat to [coach] Gary [Kirsten] before the team meeting tonight."

While the South Africans are desperate to start their tour here with a series victory, de Villiers admitted tonight's match would also be an opportunity for his side to prepare for the T20 World Cup, which takes place in Sri Lanka in September.

Any chance of success in that tournament, he said, would come down to the Proteas' ability to win knockout matches.

Tonight's isn't exactly that but given the series is on the line, there is undoubtedly a degree of pressure on the tourists.

"It is an important series. It's important for us to play to a good standard of cricket – that's what we are focused on," de Villiers added.

"We are not too focused on the results. Obviously we want to win every game we play but we want to get to a certain level of cricket where we feel we can win the World Cup.

"That's the ultimate goal at the moment.

"We are working towards that but it's a big game tomorrow and we are going to have to start to win finals before we can go to the World Cup and win that one.

"Tomorrow is a final."

De Villiers said he didn't have a preference about batting or bowling first but admitted the Proteas had discussed targeting the short Eden Park boundaries.

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