New Zealand vs South Africa, 5th T20I, South Africa tour of New Zealand, 2026

Keshav Maharaj | South Africa captain: It's a wonderful opportunity for these youngsters to understand what international cricket is about. I think coming here, not a lot of people gave us credit with the young side that we had, but to see the hunger, desire and passion which you know to come back from 2-1 and clinch the series is super special. It just shows the depth in our system and how well the youngsters are sort of putting their hands up. Like I said, I think going 2-1 down, probably not our best starting display, but to see the youngsters come through and put in two really good performances with the bat, I think as a captain, as a coaching staff, I think you can be really happy. We don't have the experience here, but to see how the guys played, it just looked like, it was easy transition into international cricket despite some pressure behind them.

James Neesham | New Zealand captain: Yeah, it was obviously a tough start and then obviously fought back in games two and three to go 2-1 up. But yeah, unfortunately, a couple of subpar performances there at the back end of the series, which is disappointing. It's been a long summer. It's been going right from October. (there's been a number of players that have had opportunities across all formats, how important is that for New Zealand?) Yeah, it's been a long. I'm looking forward to my six-day at home since October, I think. So, yeah, I think that's just the nature of the scheduling these days. There's cricket on at all times of the year. So, yeah, it was a good opportunity here with a few guys absent to blood some young guys. And I think we saw some experience gained, some tough options, some good moments. And I think everyone that was young and came into the series will probably take away some experience to make themselves better. (anything else from these particular players that they will take away moving forward to next summer?) I just think, yeah, I mean, I thought we batted and bowled okay. I thought the fielding was probably a little bit below par, especially tonight. Under lights, it's never easy. So, yeah, I think, you know, there's all facets of the game you can look at. I think, you know, South Africa brought a quality bowling attack. They brought an inexperienced band line-up, but a quality bowling attack to the shores. So I think a few batters probably got a good taste of, you know, what the next level up is like.

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