South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and chose to bowl first in the fourth one-day cricket international against New Zealand at Carisbrook on Tuesday.
New Zealand made one change from the 11 who won by five runs in Wellington last Friday, resting Daryl Tuffey who has a knee injury and including paceman Michael Mason for his fourth one-day international.
South Africa made two changes, with allrounder Lance Klusener returning from a back injury in place of Shaun Pollock, who has a groin strain, and batsman Jacques Rudolph returning from a bout of flu in place of Ashwell Prince.
The injury breaks Pollock’s run of 116 consecutive one-day internationals stretching back to October, 2000.
The weather was overcast and cool with the prospect of rain later, although a start was due on time at 2:00pm [0100 GMT].
New Zealand lead the six-match series 2-1 as they chase their first win in either a test or one-day series against South Africa.
New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Michael Papps, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Michael Mason.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel.
Umpires: Russell Tiffin (ZIM), Tony Hill (NZL). – Sapa-NZPA