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They retain second place in the ratings with 1144 points behind Australia (1168). South Africa won the first two Tests by five and seven wickets respectively and never appeared to be in any trouble during the series.
However, New Zealand was a much-weakened team from the one that lost 3-0 to Australia in April this year. In August, New Zealand set out on an ambitious tour that involved warm-up matches in Queensland (Australia); a one-day tournament in Singapore; two Tests in Zimbabwe; the ICC Knockout Tournament in Kenya and six one-day matches in South Africa followed by three Tests. It was their longest tour since they moved over the globe in ships.
It is therefore hardly a surprise that some of the players who started the tour retuned home prematurely because of injury.
Also not surprising is the fact that Chris Cairns, Dion Nash, Paul Wiseman, Daniel Vettori and Paul Allott all bowl for New Zealand. While New Zealand won both Tests in Zimbabwe and the ICC Knockout Cup, it all came to grief by the time they reached their ultimate destination - South Africa.
Not even Australia with its much vaunted depth of talent could expect to keep playing good Test cricket with this many bowlers injured. New Zealand missed Cairns most of all.
Cairns is arguably the best all rounder in the world at this time. Without him, New Zealand could not penetrate the South African batting.
When New Zealand was batting it was clear they missed his large lower order contributions that usually come at a quick rate. New Zealand now has a rating of 989 and has never been ranked below Sri Lanka since Sri Lanka gained Test status in 1982.
New Zealand's lead over Sri Lanka has been cut to eight points and they are now at risk of slipping below Sri Lanka if Lanka draw their upcoming series against South Africa. The New Zealanders now return home for a short break before hosting Zimbabwe for a one-off Test starting on Boxing Day. The series was a welcome return to form for South Africa after they drew their last series in Sri Lanka.
SouthAfrica has not lost a Test series since their tour of England in 1998.
Since then they have defeated the West Indies, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, England, India and New Zealand again. The series has also shown South Africa how lucky a team needs to be to string together a record number of consecutive victories as Australia are currently doing.
The fickle weather stole South Africa's opportunity to continue their sequence and attempt to match the Australians - an ambition that some of the South African players expressed after the second test. South Africa retains second place in the ratings by a more than comfortable margin over third placed England.
They remain out of touch of Australia who need only a win and a draw out of the three remaining tests to prevent a loss of their ratings points. South Africa's next series is against the visiting Sri Lankans starting in late December before they head to the Caribbean to play five Tests against the West Indies.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1 Australia (1168); 2 South Africa (1144); 3 England (1056); 4 Pakistan (1053); 5 West Indies (1050); 6 India (1019); 7 New Zealand (989); 8 Sri Lanka (981); 9 Zimbabwe (902); 10 Bangladesh (876 -provisional).
