Proteas looking for fresh start

Ahead of today's one- day international between the Proteas and New Zealand - the first since the spellbinding World Cup semifinal - Hashim Amla said the heartbreak of that defeat was buried in the past.

That may be so but the earth shifted beneath the Proteas' feet when New Zealand knocked them out of a second successive World Cup in February.

SA play the Black Caps in the first of three ODIs in Centurion today carrying a lot of baggage that was left unresolved by the tied two-match T20 series.

"The World Cup is done now . and what's done is done," Amla said.

"The New Zealanders have a new-look team and in some ways, so is ours. We are now looking ahead to the Champions Trophy in two years' time and the captain [AB de Villiers] and coach [Russell Domingo] have been trying to get the right team for that tournament. Losing in Bangladesh was very disappointing but this is a fresh start for everybody."

New Zealand may have lost the World Cup final to co-hosts Australia but they have replaced their neighbours as the most feared batting line-up in world cricket, along with India.

To beat the Black Caps 3-2 in an ODI series earlier this year, England had to fight fire with fire and adopted the same hair-raising batting approach.

Amla said South Africa would stick to their balance of offence and calculative measure in this series - something he said De Villiers was a master at.

"The brand of ODI cricket we've played has a mixture of attack and an element of measure.

"We've got some quality players in our team that can do both, like AB and Faf [du Plessis] when he's available. Morne van Wyk will open the batting and throughout the domestic season, he's been the standout batter who can both attack and bat through an innings."

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