AB de Villiers has labelled Faf Du Plessis a great player after his match-winning 51* against New Zealand on Saturday. 

Although a great bowling display by the Proteas set up an expected victory for South Africa, a shaky start by the top-order batsmen saw them reduced to 88-4 by the 22nd over.

Du Plessis, with help from David Miller (45 of 35 balls), anchored the innings to take his side to a six-wicket victory by hitting a four off the final delivery to bring up his 26th half-century.

The 32-year-old, addressing the media after his 185 off 141 balls against Sri Lanka in February, expressed his desire to be a great player and De Villiers believes he has achieved this in recent times.

‘He’s a wonderful player who has turned into a great player over the past few years.’

The Proteas captain continued by complimenting Du Plessis’ calm head during a difficult period for his side.

‘It’s very easy in those situations to go into a negative mindset and we decided to stay positive. It was a fantastic knock by Faf and David to take us across the line.’

With that win, the Proteas regained the No 1 spot to go above Australia. SA (7 388 points) have a rating of 119 in 62 matches, while the Aussies (7 227 points) have a rating of 118 in 61 matches.

Photo: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images