There's no better way to finish a home summer than a fully-fledged series against South Africa says Blackcaps paceman Tim Southee.
South Africa has arrived in the country eager to make amends for their semi-final defeat at the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
After climbing to the top of the ICC one-day rankings with a series white-wash against Sri Lanka, Southee believes they're very formidable opponents.
"It is a great way to finish the summer," Southee told Newshub.
"We ticked off Pakistan, ticked off Bangladesh, ticked off Australia, now we can switch our focus to South Africa."
The Proteas gave New Zealand a touch-up in the away two-Test series in August last year with the hosts belting the Blackcaps by 204 runs after a drawn first Test.
However, Southee said the 12-0 home record over the 2016/17 summer has the team's tail up and that they'll be hard to beat in their own conditions.
"The best side of the world coming to our conditions which we've played some really good cricket in."
"We've played some good cricket this summer, haven’t lost a game at home yet and we'll be looking to try and continue that for as long as we possibly can."
The Blackcaps will play South Africa in a one-off T20 match at Eden Park on Friday night and Southee said while it's a one-off, the team's excited to get down to work.
"Hopefully the weather plays ball but we've played some good cricket this summer… You go into every game to win it, obviously in 20/20 matches, anything can happen, a one off game, but we're definitely excited for tomorrow."
Newshub.