Rewards await hardy travellers

If the last three months have taught us one thing about cricketers, it's that they do not travel well. India could not contend with the pace, bounce and aggression of Australia, and England before that. England found themselves tangled in a web of spin against Pakistan. Sri Lanka, though they took a Test off South Africa, were mostly stunned by the conditions. And Zimbabwe were worked over by a rampant New Zealand. If the trend is to change, it will be up to the team who have been the best tourists over the last six years to do it.

The last time South Africa lost a Test series away from home was in Sri Lanka in 2006, and they currently have the longest unbeaten away streak of all teams. But their dominant away record was made to lurk in the shadows of their struggles at home. The in joke in South African cricket circles over the summer was that while teams from the subcontinent could not win away from home, South Africa could not win at home. Before the recent victory over Sri Lanka, they had not won a Test series on their own turf since they beat Bangladesh in 2008.

Now that they have turned that around, they are on cusp of securing a reputation as the best unit in any condition, if they continue their away form. Threaded through their three drawn series at home, South Africa have achieved the feat of winning in both England and Australia. Their 2008 series win in England was the first since readmission, and the victory in Australia, their first in that country. In 2010, South Africa drew a series in India and one against Pakistan in the UAE. Sandwiched in between the two was a win in the Caribbean against West Indies.

Another year of travel beckons, during which South Africa play three series outside their own borders. If they are successful, they could return home with the No. 1 Test ranking, which they have long hankered after. The first opportunity to rise to the summit will present itself in New Zealand, where a whitewash of their hosts will see South Africa emerge top dog.

To do that, they will have to travel as well, and perhaps better than they have done in the past. New Zealand has been labelled as one of the tougher places to tour. Although the conditions are not considered as different as those in the subcontinent are for a team from South Africa, they are sufficiently different enough to make adjustment crucial. For South Africa, that adjustment can be broken down into a few crucial areas that they will have to focus on if they hope to conquer New Zealand.

Superficial as it may seem, the time difference will be their first challenge. New Zealand, 11 hours ahead of South Africa, is the place furthest from home that the team ever travel to play. Jacques Rudolph and Paul Adams, who both played in the 2003-04 series, said the jetlag in the first week or two took some overcoming. Gary Kirsten, who played his last Test match on that tour, also cited it as the first test. "We have to get a feel for the place quickly," he said. A good thing for South Africa that the Tests come last on this tour, then.

Getting a feel of the place will start with the most basic of things, the weather. February and March are blazing summer in South Africa, and although it is nominally the same season in New Zealand, they enjoy a milder version. Temperatures in some places will be closer to those in a South African winter, with rain and wind occasionally lashing the fields. Dunedin, the venue for the first Test, is the closest place cricket is played to the South Pole. Former South Africa bowling coach Vincent Barnes said playing there was "the coldest I have ever been on a cricket field". Adams said it was "freezing, but you have to embrace it. You can't be thinking that it's warm in South Africa and you are there in the cold."

The other two venues, Hamilton and Wellington, are expected to be easier but Dave Nosworthy, the former Canterbury coach, who currently looks after the Lions franchise, said there will still be some acclimatising to be done. "Hamilton will be the most pleasant and it's a real Test ground there, which is very nice," he said. "But in Wellington you could have four seasons in one day, and bowlers will have to understand that sometimes they will be bowling into a strong wind. It has a big effect on whether the ball will swing or not."

The weather will also have an effect on the pitches, which Kirsten identified as among the most unpredictable in the world. "The wickets can be quite different every time we come here, so it will be our responsibility to understand that," he said. Nosworthy advises that South Africa pay heed to a tip he was given when he first came to South Africa. "I was always told when you are assessing the pitch, don't look down, look up, because the weather will tell you what the pitch is going to do," he said.

Whatever the conditions overhead, it is likely the pitches will have something in them for the bowlers. New Zealand have recently started preparing greener strips to accommodate their four-pronged seam attack as well. Rudolph said it is likely there will also be sideways movement, as a lot of catches in the Zimbabwe series were taken in the slips. However, Barnes thinks that if New Zealand stick to that strategy against South Africa, it would be a mistake. "I think we will have the batsmen to combat their bowlers but they won't have the batsmen to combat ours."

It's fighting talk from the man responsible for moulding most of South Africa's current attack and it may even be seen as the start of a war of words. Beyond the physical hurdles South Africa will have to leap over, they will have to brace for a test of their mental strength if they are to make a statement in New Zealand. That's a department South Africa are known to have weaknesses in, weaknesses that were exploited as recently as last year's World Cup by the New Zealand side they will play now.

Bulldogs on the field, New Zealand are known for their tenacity and shrewdness. South Africa, by contrast, are known to be vulnerable in that regard. "New Zealand make it hard work. They get under your skin. They are very competitive and they target certain players," Adams said. In the 2003-04 series, Graeme Smith was the one most of the words were directed at.

One of the ways South Africa can ensure that they handle the verbal onslaught is by building and maintaining a strong team spirit. Before the Twenty20 squad left, AB de Villiers indicated that the series will give the squad an opportunity to bond as a group. "On a tour you have no choice but to be with your team-mates," he said.

de Villiers is in a charge of a relatively young T20 side, which will be beefed up by some experience for the ODIs before the heavyweights roll in for the Tests. Adams thinks it will be important for the team management to help the younger squads overcome the initial adjustment phase. "The support staff will have to try and hold the team together," he said. "They must not let the sideshows take over, because sometimes that can happen."

There is hope that the new members of the side will not have the same emotional baggage some of the experienced have dragged with them, so helping them deal with that aspect of cricket will be easier. "It's a fresh side with a new energy and a positive vibe," Adams said.

Much like New Zealand, South Africa have reached an enviable equilibrium between youth and experience, one that their camp thinks is superior because of the quality of the opposition they have encountered on the way to New Zealand.

A classically gruelling series against Australia and one that was testing in parts against Sri Lanka will be worth more than the experience New Zealand have had. "I wouldn't read too much into the series against Zimbabwe," Adams said. "New Zealand know they will be tested now. Their senior players will have to put their hands up."

Names like Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin stand between South Africa and success, but rather than view the New Zealand big guns as obstacles, South Africa may look to history as their driving force. They have never lost a Test series in New Zealand, have won three of the five series they played there and whitewashed the hosts once, in 1931-32. In the two bilateral ODI series they have played in New Zealand, spoils were shared. Given how well they have always travelled to New Zealand, they will see no reason why they can't do it again.