Too many soft dismissals - De Villiers
The five-match one-day series between the Proteas and New Zealand is now level at 1-1.
New Zealand won the second ODI by six runs in Christchurch earlier today.
AB de Villiers, who made 45, believes the Proteas were made to pay for giving wickets away.
"We had hope until the last ball. I thought the youngsters played really well and showed a lot of promise towards the end there. It was always the plan today to play a lot of batsmen and bat really deep. However, the red flag was always for the top-order to take it a bit easy and feel that it was okay to get out. There were too many soft dismissals and they cost us the game today," De Villiers said.
Quinton de Kock was out for 57 today and De Villiers feels the Proteas had needed one of them to be there at the end.
"The two of us needed a partnership there and so it was unfortunate that he went out at that stage. So too my dismissal. Both of us were set and the team needed one of us to be there at the end. Then it would have been fine," De Villiers added.
The Proteas were set a victory target of 290 in Christchurch and De Villiers says he was pretty happy with that.
"It was a long and difficult first 50 overs. It is a big field and it was difficult to get all the angles right. The ball was not moving as much as we had hoped it would. However, I felt pretty confident that we could chase down 290. We batted deep today and I was confident of chasing that score," said De Villiers.
De Villiers also had praise for New Zealand bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult. He feels they had bowled well at the death.
"Southee and Boult used yorkers really well and had good plans in place. So credit to both of them. The plan was for Andile (Phehlukwayo) to clear the boundary twice in the final over and he played according to that plan," De Villiers stated.
Andile Phehlukwayo made 29 not out today, while Dwaine Pretorius was dismissed for 50 from just 27 balls. De Villiers has taken encouragement from their knocks.
"It is great to see them play like that. They batted with freedom and I think it says a lot about our culture in the squad. Guys are freed up and feel they can just watch the ball and enjoy their cricket. The youngsters have the backing of the older guys and management. So the young guys feel confident and free to do whatever they want and to express their talent. I think Dwaine (Pretorius) also bowled well for us today," De Villiers concluded.
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre
AB de Villiers, who made 45, believes the Proteas were made to pay for giving wickets away.
"We had hope until the last ball. I thought the youngsters played really well and showed a lot of promise towards the end there. It was always the plan today to play a lot of batsmen and bat really deep. However, the red flag was always for the top-order to take it a bit easy and feel that it was okay to get out. There were too many soft dismissals and they cost us the game today," De Villiers said.
Quinton de Kock was out for 57 today and De Villiers feels the Proteas had needed one of them to be there at the end.
"The two of us needed a partnership there and so it was unfortunate that he went out at that stage. So too my dismissal. Both of us were set and the team needed one of us to be there at the end. Then it would have been fine," De Villiers added.
The Proteas were set a victory target of 290 in Christchurch and De Villiers says he was pretty happy with that.
"It was a long and difficult first 50 overs. It is a big field and it was difficult to get all the angles right. The ball was not moving as much as we had hoped it would. However, I felt pretty confident that we could chase down 290. We batted deep today and I was confident of chasing that score," said De Villiers.
De Villiers also had praise for New Zealand bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult. He feels they had bowled well at the death.
"Southee and Boult used yorkers really well and had good plans in place. So credit to both of them. The plan was for Andile (Phehlukwayo) to clear the boundary twice in the final over and he played according to that plan," De Villiers stated.
Andile Phehlukwayo made 29 not out today, while Dwaine Pretorius was dismissed for 50 from just 27 balls. De Villiers has taken encouragement from their knocks.
"It is great to see them play like that. They batted with freedom and I think it says a lot about our culture in the squad. Guys are freed up and feel they can just watch the ball and enjoy their cricket. The youngsters have the backing of the older guys and management. So the young guys feel confident and free to do whatever they want and to express their talent. I think Dwaine (Pretorius) also bowled well for us today," De Villiers concluded.
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre