South Africa completed a hat-trick of one-day series wins at Eden Park on Saturday and reclaimed the No 1 ranking.
Since October they have hammered Australia and Sri Lanka 5-0 each and edged New Zealand 3-2.
All told, that's 13 wins in 15 games.
"We've spoken long and hard about our intensity in the field, and JP Duminy led us spectacularly in the field throughout this campaign," said coach Russell Domingo in Auckland yesterday.
Duminy lived up to that accolade on Saturday with a superb dive-slide-pickup-throw to dismiss Mitchell Santner, the ball crashing unerringly into the single stump visible from his position at point.
"That runout was as good as I've seen," Domingo said.
SA's bowlers also earned their coach's approval.
"The bowling disciplines were outstanding. The wicket did help but our control was good.
"It always helps to have a guy who can strike up front like Kagiso Rabada [who took 3/25 and was the series' leading bowler in terms of wicket-taking, average and economy rate]."
Between them Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius have played only 57 ODIs and are, collectively, just 69 years old - reasons for Domingo to be cheerful about the seam attack's potential.
"It's KG's [Rabada's] first tour of New Zealand; he's 21 - it's hard to believe - he's still a baby," he said.
"Andile had his 21st birthday two days ago and Dwaine's only played a handful of ODIs. There's still a lot of room for improvement and a lot of development that needs to take place with some of those young bowlers.
"We're happy with the way they dealt with the pressure."
The rise of the young bowling brigade has been aided and abetted by the older but also inexperienced Chris Morris.
Imran Tahir also had a solid series, claiming only six wickets but lending SA stability when they needed it most.
Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill scored the only centuries of the series, although South Africans scored eight half-centuries: twice as many as the Kiwis.
But Domingo knew better than to exaggerate the challenges that lay ahead.
"The 5-0 and 5-0 against Sri Lanka and Australia might not have sounded like a good test, so this was a really big test for us," he said.
SA will face New Zealand in a test series that starts in Dunedin on Wednesday. - TMG Digital
Top fielding, bowling behind Proteas victory
South Africa completed a hat-trick of one-day series wins at Eden Park on Saturday and reclaimed the No 1 ranking.
Since October they have hammered Australia and Sri Lanka 5-0 each and edged New Zealand 3-2.
All told, that's 13 wins in 15 games.
"We've spoken long and hard about our intensity in the field, and JP Duminy led us spectacularly in the field throughout this campaign," said coach Russell Domingo in Auckland yesterday.
Duminy lived up to that accolade on Saturday with a superb dive-slide-pickup-throw to dismiss Mitchell Santner, the ball crashing unerringly into the single stump visible from his position at point.
"That runout was as good as I've seen," Domingo said.
SA's bowlers also earned their coach's approval.
"The bowling disciplines were outstanding. The wicket did help but our control was good.
"It always helps to have a guy who can strike up front like Kagiso Rabada [who took 3/25 and was the series' leading bowler in terms of wicket-taking, average and economy rate]."
Between them Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius have played only 57 ODIs and are, collectively, just 69 years old - reasons for Domingo to be cheerful about the seam attack's potential.
"It's KG's [Rabada's] first tour of New Zealand; he's 21 - it's hard to believe - he's still a baby," he said.
"Andile had his 21st birthday two days ago and Dwaine's only played a handful of ODIs. There's still a lot of room for improvement and a lot of development that needs to take place with some of those young bowlers.
"We're happy with the way they dealt with the pressure."
The rise of the young bowling brigade has been aided and abetted by the older but also inexperienced Chris Morris.
Imran Tahir also had a solid series, claiming only six wickets but lending SA stability when they needed it most.
Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill scored the only centuries of the series, although South Africans scored eight half-centuries: twice as many as the Kiwis.
But Domingo knew better than to exaggerate the challenges that lay ahead.
"The 5-0 and 5-0 against Sri Lanka and Australia might not have sounded like a good test, so this was a really big test for us," he said.
SA will face New Zealand in a test series that starts in Dunedin on Wednesday. - TMG Digital
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