South Africa cricket team captain A.B. de Villiers has branded New Zealand as one of the favourites to win next year's Cricket World Cup.
South Africa are set to face New Zealand for an ODI series. They are high on confidence having beaten Australia in the final of a triangular tournament in Zimbabwe last month, a win that was seen as a harbinger of good form for the side.
South Africa and Australia plays New Zealand in three ODI matches starting at Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval on Tuesday, Stuff.co.nz reported.
De Villiers said that New Zealand was always a very competitive ODI team and obviously playing on their home grounds, in the home country now they would be even more competitive.
The South African skipper said that he thinks New Zealand would like to win this series as badly as his side wants to. He also said that he believes New Zealand was one of the favourites to win the world cup.
De Villiers said that they know what New Zealand is capable of, especially playing in these kind of conditions. He added that the New Zealanders have not won a big tournament or a big series for a while so they must be very motivated to do well.
De Villiers said that the hosts would have a lot of home support and they would have a lot of people right behind them wanting them to do well.