South African One-Day International captain AB de Villiers is looking to use the upcoming series against New Zealand as an opportunity to further develop his captaincy skills.
By handing the gloves to Quinton de Kock, it will give him a new perspective having previously captained from behind the stumps, something he admits is not always easy, particularly when communicating with his players.
"I found it really difficult with the gloves in hand," he said at a press conference ahead of the opening game in Paarl.
"I think it will be a whole new experience for me not being behind the stumps. I will obviously have the freedom to communicate with the bowlers and I will have a lot more time without the keeping responsibility on my shoulders.
"I'm looking forward to interacting a lot better with my bowlers and getting better knowledge of their thoughts and game plans, it will be nice to have a say on that side of the captaincy."
Since taking over after the 2011 World Cup, de Villiers has yet to lose an ODI series, beating Sri Lanka at home and New Zealand away as well as drawing in England.
It is a record he hopes to build in the three matches against New Zealand but he refuses to take anything for granted despite South Africa being the overwhelming favourites for the series (bet365 make them 1/9 to win with New Zealand at 11/2).
"We will take it one game at a time but it will be great if we win the series," de Villiers added. "We know this game too well, you can't get ahead of yourself, it has a funny way of biting you when you look too far ahead.
"We are focusing on the game in Paarl, we would love to go up one nil, we know that New Zealand are a formidable ODI team and they have upset a lot of big teams in the past, including ourselves."
De Villiers has captained South Africa in 13 matches, winning eight and losing four.
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