"Hopefully we can get some early wickets and put them under pressure," Taylor said at the toss, after the morning session was lost because of rain and the covers came off the pitch to show a green wicket.
South Africa lead the series 1-0 after winning the second Test by nine wickets.
New Zealand have replaced opening batsman Rob Nicol with Daniel Flynn and boosted their batting stocks with the inclusion of Dean Brownlie, who returns from injury to replace bowler Brent Arnel.
South Africa have left out Jacques Kallis, who has a sore neck, and brought in JP Duminy while Marchant de Lange replaces Imran Tahir.
Teams:
New Zealand: Daniel Flynn, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor (captain), Kane Williamson, Dean Brownlie, Daniel Vettori, Kruger van Wyk, Doug Bracewell, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Marchant de Lange.
