WELLINGTON: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen once quipped that it was probably better to ‘flush the dunny (toilet) and move on’ after a poor performance against Italy in 2009 and his cricket counterpart Mike Hesson expressed similar thoughts on Sunday.

Hesson’s team were comprehensively outplayed by South Africa in the third One-day International at Westpac Stadium on Saturday as they were bundled out for 112 and lost the match by 159 runs.

The victory gave the Proteas a 2-1 lead in the five-match series and Hesson’s side face a must-win game in Hamilton on Saturday.

“We have to move on pretty quick. We can’t let a performance like that affect how we prepare for the next one,” Hesson told reporters on Sunday. “South Africa ... were excellent. They challenged us and we didn’t respond.”

Hesson at least has the services of Martin Guptill at Seddon Park after the opening batsman missed the first three games with a hamstring injury.

Guptill’s return creates something of a selection conundrum for Hesson, with Tom Latham likely to relinquish the gloves to specialist wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi for the rest of the series.

Even though he has proved more than capable behind the stumps, Latham has scores of 0, 2, 0, 0, 7 and 4 in his past six ODIs and Guptill is likely to open with Dean Brownlie in Hamilton.

“There’s no doubt Tom has struggled the last little while,” Hesson said. “He’s come off a great series in India where he was our best player and he hasn’t quite reached those heights yet.”

Hesson also brought back off-spinner Jeetan Patel with the pitch likely to offer turn in Hamilton while pace bowler Matt Henry has been released to play a first-class match with an eye to the test series that starts in Dunedin on March 8.

Captain Kane Williamson confirmed ‘a number of (selection) discussions’ were on the cards after Saturday’s game.

Selector Gavin Larsen said the inclusion of 36-year-old Patel, who will be the third spinner in the squad, was based on the wicket in Hamilton where the fourth match will be played on Wednesday.

“We saw in the opening ODI that Seddon Park had something in it for the spinners and we want to be well-covered should it be a similar situation this time around,” he said. “We already have two spinners in Mitch [Santner] and Ish [Sodhi] within the squad, but Jeetan provides a different set of skills again. He’s experienced and his quality is well known.”

Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Dean Brownlie, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, James Neesham, Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017