McCullum was glad to see his team bounce back after experiencing a tough time in the Twenty20 and Test series

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum is extremely pleased with the progression of the youngsters in the national team and stated that it was phenomenal to see them adapting to the challenges of international cricket so rapidly.

Despite losing the Twenty20 series 2-1 and receiving a 2-0 whitewashing in the Test series, McCullum and the rest of the New Zealand team were able to bounce back and defeat the Proteas 2-1 in the ODI series.

McCullum was especially impressed with left-arm pace bowler Mitchell McClenaghan, who played a vital role for New Zealand across all three formats.

“The introduction of the new guys, playing in front of big crowds, is a positive,” McCullum said. “We have seen some good performances from the new guys, especially Mitchell McClenaghan, and it is encouraging.

“Although, we didn’t get the results, we took significant strides in the series. The key thing is to continue to build the team inside out. We saw some guys step up, and they would now know what’s required in international cricket. Progression of where we were a couple of weeks ago and where we are now, it’s good.”

During the first ODI in Paarl, New Zealand showed tremendous fight and spirit to defeat South Africa by one wicket and with their confidence soaring, they managed to seal the series with a 27 run win in the second ODI in Kimberley.