Skipper De Villiers believes new era round the corner for Proteas

Wellington, Feb.17 (ANI): One-day skipper A.B.De Villiers believes that a new era is around the corner for South Africa with the tour of New Zealand.

Speaking ahead of Friday's first Twenty20 international against New Zealand to be played at the Westpac Stadium here, De Villiers said the match would be the squad's first litmus test ahead of an important year for the T20 outfit.

"I'm expecting to see a lot of these faces there (ICC World Twenty20)," Sports 24 quoted De Villiers, as saying.

"A definite part of the plan is to get these boys ready for the big tournament later on in the year," he added.

If De Villiers and his troops win the series, they will move to No 2. However, the focus for the squad is process driven and centred around executing their skills when the moment requires it.

"We have our processes in place, we have bigger goals like the World Cup and so on, but obviously it is a huge series for us, we would love to win it but the rankings are definitely not something we look at, not for now," De Villiers said.

"I think that it's important in this format of the game to keep the guys on their toes and to keep the opposition guessing. That is the way that I like to captain," he added. (ANI)