McCullum made 81 off 85 balls to set his side up for victory

New Zealand finally enjoyed a win on their tour of South Africa as they levelled the one-day series with a crushing seven-wicket victory.

Kyle Mills set the tone by removing Herschelle Gibbs second ball as New Zealand's bowlers found their range, restricting South Africa to 209-9.

A 154-run partnership between Brendon McCullum (81) and Jamie How (76) soon took the game away from South Africa.

Scott Styris and Ross Taylor finished it off as NZ won with 11.2 overs left.

New Zealand had endured a miserable tour to South Africa, suffering two heavy defeats in the Tests and losing a Twenty20 international and the first ODI.

But the tourists turned that form around in amazing fashion, thanks to a fine performance from bowlers Mills (3-43) and Mark Gillespie (3-55) and the aggressive batting of McCullum and How.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to New Zealand's emphatic win

But South Africa will be reflecting on a poor all-round performance with loose batting followed by inaccurate bowling and error-ridden fielding.

McCullum was eventually run out by Dale Steyn for 81 looking for a second run, and then Charl Langeveldt trapped How leg before wicket playing across the line for 76.

But the damage was already done as Styris (24 not out) and Taylor (13 not out) saw New Zealand home.

South Africa's innings was partially reused by a remarkable 30 off 12 balls from bowler Andre Nel, but their total always looked to be on the skinny side.

The Black Caps had South Africa in serious trouble on 66 for five in the 22nd over, with both openers going without troubling the scorers.

But Mark Boucher (48) and Shaun Pollock (52) helped their side get up to a semi-respectable total before New Zealand knocked off the runs to set up a winner takes all third ODI at Newlands on Sunday.