McCullum, standing in for the injured Ross Taylor, said New Zealand would look to spinners Rob Nicol, Nathan McCullum and Ronnie Hira to slow South Africa’s scoring rate on a slow wicket.
"We’ve stacked our bowling attack with spinners so hopefully that will present a few opportunities for us," said McCullum, whose team is coming off a series whitewash against Zimbabwe.
Proteas skipper AB de Villiers said his team would need to adapt quickly to New Zealand conditions. "It should move around a bit, pretty much like English conditions, we’re used to that kind of stuff," he said. "So we’re pretty confident going out there and are just going to enjoy ourselves.
For the tourists, Lonwabo Tsotsobe took a hat-trick when South Africa won a warm-up match against the Canterbury Wizards earlier this week, while opening batsman Richard Levi scored 63 off 32 balls.
Allrounder Justin Ontong also appears for South Africa after a three-year absence.
New Zealand: Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (captain), Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Colin de Grandhomme, Nathan McCullum, Doug Bracewell, Kyle Mills, Roneel Hira, Tim Southee, Andrew Ellis (12th man)
South Africa: Richard Levi, Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers (captain), Jean-Paul Duminy, Justin Ontong, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Rusty Theron, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Robin Peterson (12th man)
