South Africa's 5 Key Players from the New Zealand ODI Series

South Africa ended their ODI series against New Zealand with a 2-0 win after the final match was rained out. For the visitors, the main purpose of the tour was to try out different combinations to make sure they have assembled a solid squad for the 2015 World Cup.

Most of the spots in the team are secure, but question marks remain over David Miller and Rilee Rossouw, who both failed to register a score of significance. What South Africa can be sure of is that they have a number of key players in the side.

Here are five of South Africa’s “gun players” from the series.

All quotes obtained firsthand and stats via ESPNCricinfo, unless otherwise stated.

It goes without saying that Hashim Amla is a superstar. Even when Amla looks a little out of touch, he can still produce the goods.

After a failure in the first ODI, Amla bounced back with a hundred in the second match. The ton was his fourth in the calendar year and took him past 700 ODI runs for the series. There is no doubt that his partnership with Quinton de Kock at the top of the order will be instrumental for South Africa during the World Cup.

AB de Villiers is one of the most talented batsmen in world cricket. He scored 159 and averaged 159.00 across the three games.

As a captain, De Villiers has grown in stature. There are a few small things he needs to tweak, especially when it comes to bowling changes, but to have somebody like De Villiers will serve South Africa well.

It also became quite evident that it’s not just De Villiers who makes the decisions. He was constantly shown to be in consultation with T20 captain Faf du Plessis and Test captain Amla. De Kock has also become far more involved, and with players that can think for themselves at his disposal, De Villiers is sitting on proverbial gold mine.

Since taking over the No. 3 batting spot from Jacques Kallis, Du Plessis has blossomed in the role. His ability to take a slow and steady approach while somebody else plays more aggressively is a big luxury. That South Africa opted not to play him in the final ODI shows just how sure they are of his abilities to make that spot his own.

Vernon Philander returned to the one-day side after sitting out through injury during the recent tri-series in Zimbabwe. If there were any doubts that Philander can be a solid one-day bowler, most of those will now be laid to rest.

He was superb upfront and showed just how much of a difference the right conditions can make. With four wickets at an average of 16.25, Philander had a great outing.

South Africa play just one of their group games in New Zealand, and the bowler still needs to be tested in Australia. However, as it stands, he looks like he is going to be a crucial part of the South African attack.

Considering how much Imran Tahir has struggled in the Test arena, South African fans can breathe a sigh of relief. In the limited overs format, Tahir has just gotten better and better.

He has great variation and is constantly learning how to use that variation better. Tahir’s four wickets at an average of 17.25 with an economy rate of 3.83 has all but cemented his spot as South Africa's go-to spinner for next year’s World Cup.