SYDNEY (AFP)
South Africa's emphatic victory over New Zealand in the VB Series was a sign the side could rise above adversity, skipper Shaun Pollock said on Friday night.

South Africa, after being thrashed 3-0 in the Test series by Australia, came back from the brink of disaster in the limited-overs series to win the best-of-three finals 2-0 against New Zealand. South Africa recorded their second finals win, by a margin of six wickets, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Pollock said the one-day triumph, which came with 70,000 Australian dollars (35,000 US) in prize money, did not make up for the Test losses.

"I don't like to link the two - they are two different forms of the game," Pollock said. "But it was an enormous effort to come back from the defeat in the Test series and turn it around to do well in the one-dayers.

"It's all about how you deal with adversity and I think the guys did that the best way they know how, to come back with victory in the one-dayers."

Pollock admitted there was a period when his team's one-day crusade threatened to fizzle out. Midway through the series, South Africa had just lost a double-header in Brisbane and were then routed by Australia in Sydney, making just 106 batting first.

"The turning point came after that weekend when we lost three games in four days," Pollock said. "We went to Adelaide and in team discussions I asked everyone to stand up and be counted and the guys have done that in the latter part of the one-day series and the finals."

While South Africa finished the series strongly, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming admitted his side "petered out" in the final two weeks when they lost five games in a row.

"Our energies were well spent early with some good performances," Fleming said. "As we went on we could not really maintain momentum. A couple of injuries and a couple of poor performances and things got on top of us."

Fleming admitted his side suffered from making "crucial mistakes against a team that has had us under pressure for some time ... we just keep failing under pressure".

South Africa have now won 14 of the past 15 matches against New Zealand for a 22-8 record overall against the Kiwis. Fleming said his team struggled to put together 100 overs of solid cricket against South Africa.

He said one of South Africa's main strengths was the way they played New Zealand's slower bowlers, Chris Harris and Daniel Vettori, who had been able to dominate the Australians.

Fleming added that man-of-the-match Jonty Rhodes was "exceptional against us in this series".

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