"To have a guy like that up the order and performing all the time is really taking the games away from the opposition with normal cricket shots, which I haven't seen before," he said of the 28-year-old right-hander who carved up 92 runs from 107 balls, including 12 fours, after occupying the crease for 133 minutes following a head cold.
"I haven't seen any other guy in the world do that so it's amazing to have the guy around and hope he keeps performing.
"The scary part is that he's not performing as well as he can so, hopefully, we'll see the best part of him before the end of this tour.
"He's definitely a smart man and he thinks a lot about his batting and probably works the hardest of all our batters and it pays off on the field," de Villiers said of the 56-match ODI veteran and world No 1 who averages 55.36.
While he had some close calls and more lives than a cat, Amla showed all the hallmarks of a wily campaigner who created his own luck and a thinker born to play test cricket.
While Morkel rattled New Zealand's cage, Tsotsobe also gained his skipper's plaudits for taking 3-43 off 10 overs.
Not surprisingly, opener Dale Steyn won the frugality stakes with 1-37 off 10 overs, including a maiden.
"Lotsy's [Tsotsobe] certainly doing his job.
"He bowls a lot of overs up front where batsmen can score and that's not easy to do in the power play overs with only two [players] out of the circle," de Villiers said of the 20-match-old left-arm seamer.
"It's an amazing effort and he goes about his work very quietly and that says a lot about his character and the man he is."
De Villiers, who was 31 not out from 35 balls at No5, with No6 Justin Ontong unbeaten on 19 (17 balls), took pride in his troop's ability to play consistently in all three facets - bowling, batting and fielding.
While the tourists didn't pick up early wickets, they did at opportune intervals.
"That restricted them to [fewer] than 250 [230] which is unbelievable on this wicket," said de Villiers who elected to bowl after winning the toss despite a benign batting track, highlighting the Proteas' confidence in their ability.
"I thought it was a good wicket and I couldn't see it changing later on.
"It's nice to bat at night when it's a good wicket because when it gets cold the ball stops swinging much," the 28-year-old said, adding it was hard to gain ascendancy on teams away from home although they won the game in 38.2 overs without hitting a six.
Consequently the Proteas intend to keep their foot on the Caps' throat in the third ODI in Auckland on Saturday, considering the bulk of their squad is also in the test equation.
"It's a long season so we wouldn't like to lose that momentum now.
"We're pretty chuffed but the work isn't done just yet."
Morkel felt they attacked as a pack with their quickies hitting their straps with purpose although he apportioned some credit to conditioning coach Rob Walter for their peak fitness.
