Cricket: Williamson putting in plenty of practice

New Zealand Black Caps cricket player Kane Williamson during team training. Photo / Brett Phibbs

As New Zealand face a must-win encounter with South Africa in Napier on Wednesday to keep their three-match one-day series alive, Kane Williamson has been adjusting to the extra pace of the Proteas' bowling attack.

The Kiwis were well-beaten by six wickets in Wellington on Saturday night, putting the pressure on for game two of the three-match series.

Williamson, who made 55 from 69 balls from No 4 during the loss, said it had taken him time to adjust to the South African pace merchants Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

"You try to prepare as best as you can. Simulate it on the bowling machine, because they're obviously quicker than a lot of guys you get to face - especially in New Zealand - so you have to simulate it other ways and we've been trying to do that," Williamson said.

"[Steyn's] obviously a world-class bowler and a great challenge and it's exciting to be able to play against guys like him ... Someone like Steyn swings the ball really well and that's his main threat, I guess, and he's obviously taken a lot of wickets with that. I see Morkel as a probably a bowler that bowls back of a length and troubles batsmen that way. So they bring different challenges with each bowlers."

"[Tsotsobe] swings it with the new ball and he has nice change-ups."

New Zealand were slow to start against the seam attack of the South Africans, who were complemented nicely by the spin of Robin Peterson and JP Duminy, while veteran all-rounder Jacques Kallis also chipped in with some economical right-arm medium-pacers.

New Zealand's batting will need to improve in game two on a McLean Park wicket which is known for producing big totals in limited-overs fixtures.

The home side mustered only 253-9 from their 50 overs on Saturday and South Africa cantered home in the 46th over on the back of a run-a-ball century from captain AB de Villiers.

Stand-in New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum used eight bowlers on Saturday but, despite having South Africa 35-3, they couldn't find the killer instinct to put the boot in and de Villiers (106 not out) was well-supported by Duminy (46) as the pair put on 90 runs.

From 125-4, Faf du Plessis took control and belted 66 from 49 balls to bring his side home as de Villiers chipped away at the other end and remarkably only struck 36 of his 106 runs in boundaries.

A score in the ballpark of 300 would be par for New Zealand -if they were to bat first - on Wednesday to give their bowlers something to aim at and have enough capital in the bank to pressure the visitors.

Williamson, who only bowled two balls on Saturday before South Africa finished the job, said their well-balanced bowling attack had the ability to lead them to victory against the Proteas.

"I think our bowling attack's done a great job in the last two months. They've performed really well and last night [Saturday] it was sort of a shame not to pick up that extra wicket. That fourth wicket early on, but that's the way it goes and the bowling attack will keep looking to move forward.

"We've got a lot of options, which is always handy to have. We've got a lot of spin options and therefore we can play extra seamers."