South Africa captain Keshav Maharaj conceded his side "were not adaptable enough and could not adjust" during their third T20I against New Zealand.

The Proteas fell 2-1 behind in the five-match series after slipping to a heavy eight-wicket defeat in Auckland.

South Africa struggled with the bat; only bowler Nqobani Mokoena (26 not out) and George Linde (23) scored more than 20, as they finished on 136-9.

Devon Conway (39) and Tom Latham (63 not out) led New Zealand's chase, while Tim Robinson added 17 before Nick Kelly (1no) got them over the line with 22 balls to spare.

"We lost wickets early, and it is tough to recover from 46-5," Maharaj reflected. "The lower order rallied to give us some runs on the board, but the batting we did in the first 10 overs really put us behind.

Tom Latham (6 #NZvSA
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"We weren't adaptable enough and couldn't adjust. We are a young side, not to make excuses, but we want to take the lessons quicker.

"The beauty of the series is that we've still got a chance to make a comeback. We want to be more clinical with bat and ball in the next game."

Black Caps skipper Mitchell Santner (2-21) was one of three New Zealand players to take two wickets.

"It was a simple blueprint: whack the wicket and also some slower balls," he said.

"The chase looked tricky since Gerald [Coetzee] bowled rockets, but it was good to see the two openers soak it up.

"But you can afford to do it when chasing 137 and what was nice was that we were chopping and changing our bowlers, but the boys were raring to go irrespective. We bowled very well in these conditions."