Temba Bavuma thanked the community of Langa who has supported him "through thick and thin" as he and his Proteas teammates took the World Test Championship mace to his home town in the Western Cape.
Proteas bowler Lungi Ngidi has made a brutal assessment of their previous performances against New Zealand in their two previous matches, admitting that they made some rookie mistakes against them.
Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad has confirmed that veteran opener Reeza Hendricks has fallen out of favour in the national T20I setup, with several batters now ahead of him in the selection hierarchy.
New Zealand produced a clinical performance to defeat Zimbabwe by 60 runs, recording the highest total of the tri-series and sealing their place in Saturday's final against the Proteas.
Proteas Men's head coach Shukri Conrad has announced two full-strength squads for August's white-ball tour against Australia Down Under.
The Proteas will have to wait until Saturday to have another attempt at beating the Black Caps, when the two sides meet in the T20 tri-series final in Harare.