 A gracious Jacques Kallis applauds Fleming on his team's win |
Stephen Fleming said being the winning captain in New Zealand's first series win over South Africa was an immensely significant occasion for his team. "It means a massive amount and you know how much history means to us," he said. "The quality of team we've beaten is very high. They've had the wood on us for so long. That adds to the elation.
"We've been through serious beatings. To come back and develop as a side, win four in a row to boot, it's fantastic. It feels great. It's a wonderful day."
Rain at the start of the day in Auckland on Sunday reduced the fifth one-day international of six, which had already been delayed a day by the weather, to 33 overs per side.
Showers intervened again during South Africa's run chase and Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher ultimately needed an unlikely 28 from Kyle Mills's final over to win it.
Despite two Mark Boucher sixes and one from Jacques Kallis, it wasn't to be, giving New Zealand their fourth win of the series to stand at 4-1 with one to play.
South African captain Graeme Smith said: "Congratulations to New Zealand with their series win, but we've been outplayed in a lot of the key moments.
"Sometimes you've got to look at yourself and you've got to be gracious and say 'you were outplayed' and we were."
MMIX
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