All eyes will be on Proteas batter Tony de Zorzi in the third T20I at Auckland's Eden Park.
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Ashwell Prince has backed the group of inexperienced batters currently on duty for the Proteas in New Zealand.
The entire top seven that played the majority of the matches in the recent T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka has been rested for the on-going five-match series in New Zealand. It has opened up the way for newbies Connor Esterhuizen, Dian Forrester and Jordan Hermann to make their T20I debuts on this tour.
It is also an opportunity for fringe players like Jason Smith, Tony de Zorzi, who has recovered from the injury that ruled him out of the T20 World Cup, and George Linde to show their value in a bid to push harder for a place in the regular starting XI.
Thus far, though, it has only been Esterhuizen that has made a noteworthy score up the order when the Pretoria Capitals opener made an unbeaten 45 to steer the Proteas home in the first T20I.
Linde also delivered a cameo 33 off 12 balls in the Hamilton defeat, but nobody has yet fully grabbed their opportunity.
De Zorzi and Smith, in particular, would have been disappointed with outputs thus far in the first two matches and would no doubt be eager to rectify this situation sooner rather than later.
Prince, who is the batting coach at the Proteas, believes this young group of batters have the pedigree, they just need to be given time to adapt to international cricket.
“With so much cricket coming up, and a lot of the guys going back to the IPL now, it's given the young guys an opportunity,” Prince said.
“We have an exciting group of young players. They’ve played really well over the last couple of years in SA20.
“Obviously, we played really well in the first game, predominantly the bowling. Saw the first game home, today (Hamilton) we didn’t get any rhythm in our batting.”
The Proteas’ batting plans have been disrupted though with Hermann having tweaked a hamstring whilst fielding in the first T20I at the Bay Oval. He was unable to bat, and has subsequently been ruled out the remainder of the series.
With no specialist reserve batter on tour, the Proteas pushed allrounder Wiaan Mulder up the order to partner Esterhuizen.
Prince, though, expects the younger Hermann brother - older brother Rubin is also in the Proteas squad - to come back stronger now that he’s had a brief taste of international cricket.
"I'm sure he's bitterly disappointed. It would have been nice also for the family, for him to get the opportunity to play alongside his brother," Prince said.
"He's played really well in SA20 over the last few years and is one of the bright young players in South Africa and we were really looking forward to seeing him on the international stage.
“It's a shame that he's got to return home, but I'm sure we'll see some more of him in the future.”
The five-match series is currently locked at 1-1 after two matches with the third scheduled for Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.