AB: We were about 50 runs short

Cape Town - Proteas skipper AB de Villiers says they simply did not put enough runs on the board in the second ODI against New Zealand in Potchefstroom on Sunday.

Martin Guptill scored his ninth ODI century to lead the Black Caps to a comfortable eight-wicket victory at Senwes Park which levelled the three-game series at 1-1.

De Villiers earlier won the toss and elected to bat first, but his side could only muster a meagre 204 all out, with Farhaan Behardien’s 70 the only score to write home about.

"I don't think we had enough runs,” De Villiers said during the post-match interview. “We came out with a good mindset to defend on the field, but it never went our way, we were never in the game.”

De Villiers felt a score in excess of 250 would have given his bowlers something to bowl at.

“We were about 50 runs short. We did not bat well, did not get partnerships up front, put a lot of pressure on the middle order, we could not kick on at the end, if we would have got 250, it would have been a good score.”

Guptill, who was named man-of-the-match, commented: "We were lucky with the way Tom (Latham) and I got away at the start. We made sure we did not lose wickets in a clump during the middle. The up and down nature (of the pitch), was pretty tough. (I) struggled a wee bit today but managed to bat through."