Centurion, Sept. 25: Understandably elated at his team’s performance in the must-win Group B game against New Zealand at the SuperSport Park here on Thursday, South African skipper Graeme Smith said the clinical five-wicket win was set up by the bowlers.

"I think the bowlers had the first go at it again and they really set the example beautifully. Wayne (Parnell) and Dale (Steyn) up front bowled with the intensity we’ve been looking for, they hit the right areas and created a lot of pressure. I think that’s a credit to them the way they’ve bounced back and a credit to everybody that followed. "It was a good clinical performance today and something that we’ve gotten use to at this level."

Having tasted defeat in the opening game against Sri Lanka and putting their chances of going through to the 2009 Champions Trophy in some peril, Smith said his team were back on track and performing closer to their usual standards.

"This was more of a level that we expect of each other and that we’ve got use to playing at," he said. "I think the first prize is always to win the game," he added.

"We knew the wicket was a touch slower today, not like the other night where it was free stroke-play. You had to work a little bit harder. I guess it was about getting yourself to a point where you could just have a good go at it — 40 overs or 41 overs, it could end. You know, we lost wickets as we started getting partnerships going to really have a good go at it, but I’m happy with the run chase."

For Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori it was a case of so near and yet so far, particularly when it came to their combination minus the injured Jacob Oram.

"The batting is an area that we haven’t been performing the way we want to and with Jacob there he offers such balance, a top line batsman with a good record and a very good one-day bowler," he explained.

"So when you take him out of the side you’ve got to make a decision and because we haven’t been performing as well as we would like with the bat we decided to go with the extra batsman and unfortunately it didn’t work," the Kiwi skipper said.