South Africa ponder bowling combination

There is a touch of finesse that floats about a Test series in the few days before a contest kicks off. The venue is decked out delicately, with white cloths draped over tables and the finest cutlery laid out in hospitality suites; grass is carefully cut from the outfield and pitch, each blade considered for its value; and the competing sides play down their own prospects while referring to each other in revered tones. This was one of the times when the last of those things did not happen to script.

"We are going to walk around with a lot of confidence," AB de Villiers said at SuperSport Park. "We want to focus on coming into the game with a bang on the first day of the first Test and make the West Indians feel a very long way from home."

Few would expect South Africa to approach West Indies any other way. Not only are the hosts the top-ranked Test team but they are taking on the No.8s, who have not looked like climbing any higher in recent memory. The odds are obviously stacked in South Africa's favour and West Indies have admitted as much through their captain Denesh Ramdin, their in-form batsman Marlon Samuels, their chief selector Clive Lloyd, and their bowling coach Curtly Ambrose.

All four men have spoken about using this tour to blood youngsters and see how they measure up against the best. That kind of pre-series talk is not what teams who expect to win or even cause the odd upset say. That can only mean West Indies are planning to run their own race on this trip, which will involve aiming for certain totals or restricting South Africa to specific scores, which will leave South Africa to set their own goals and de Villiers already revealed one of them.

"We know what's expected of us," he said. "As a team, we will have to gel together. That's the only worry when you haven't played together for a while. It's about not starting slowly."

South Africa's last Test was in August and they have only played six Tests in 2014 so far. They may require a rapid adjustment to the longest format and its demands. Because South Africa have a reputation for taking time to adapt - think back to their tour of the UAE last October when they took three days to get into the first Test by which time they had already lost it - their focus is firmly on the first Test in this rubber, which also comes with a historical burden.

The corresponding fixture of the previous West Indies trip to South Africa, in 2007-08, made the kind of history the hosts want to forget and the visitors want to use as inspiration. A stubborn century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, aided by a sprightlier 94 from Marlon Samuels and an inspired six-for from Jerome Taylor, saw West Indies win their first ever Test in South Africa and jolt a home side who thought victory was a given. "We lost to a side everybody said we should have beaten," Dale Steyn, who played in that Test said. "That's a mistake we don't want to make twice."

West Indies have made far less of a fuss about the way they went about that game. Curtly Ambrose, their bowling consultant, pragmatically pointed out that just because an all-pace attack worked for them in a match seven years ago does not mean they can expect the same will work now. But the composition of the attacks has been the stand-out talking point of the build-up, especially for South Africa.

Centurion's SuperSport Park is a fortress for the hosts, with 74% of games played there ending in South African success, and in recent years, they have done that by blasting batting line-ups out on green-tinged surfaces. In three of the last four seasons, those teams have been subcontinental sides whom South Africa have beaten by more than an innings but in all three of those matches South Africa have had a frontline spinner in their XI, leaving them with a conundrum ahead of this game: whether to go all-pace or not.

"It's the biggest decision management will have to make," de Villiers said "Centurion normally doesn't turn that much which makes you feel that you've maybe go with that extra seamer but with the team we are playing against, it might not be a bad idea to play a spinner. I'm pretty sure management will be tempted by that (playing an all-pace attack)."

Steyn was equally reluctant to choose but explained that South Africa's success at Centurion was also down to the strength of their batting line-up over the last few summers. "It can be a bit sporty on day one, a bit slow, the last time we played here against Australia was crazy because it went up and down but then in previous Tests it flattened out," he said. "It was hard work to bowl teams them out. Our batters were very dominant so it gave us enough time."

That indicates both sides may need the option of a holding bowler at Centurion as well but as far as Steyn is concerned, West Indies will lose more sleep over it than South Africa. "I don't think it really matters whether we play the spinner or the seamer, I think we'll still do okay."

He did not go as far as saying South Africa's attack would slice through West Indies, and veered back towards that softer side of pre-series talk by insisting they expect to be challenged. "There's enough talent in that team to give us hiccups," Steyn said. "They will be a period where they dominate us, where we can't get a wicket and where they are free-flowing and scoring runs."

There is something other than the possibility of West Indies' batsmen coming good that presents a real threat to South Africa and that is the threat of the unfamiliar. Both de Villiers and Steyn mentioned there were "unknown" players in the West Indies side and a mindset that is foreign to South Africa."Ramdin has rallied them quite nicely after their recent troubles so they could be quite difficult to beat," Steyn said. "The wounded buffalo is always the most dangerous. That could be the type of side we are playing against. They could come out firing and playing the most determined cricket they have in a long time or they could come out as individuals and quickly fold."

West Indies have promised the former. Lloyd and Ambrose both stressed the importance of playing as a team instead of concentrating on personal success, which would make sense given their situation. They are without high-profile individuals like Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo so collective strength will be key. But even if they manage that, de Villiers believes a South African side that gets its basics right should be too good for West Indies.

"If we focus on finding rhythm with bat and ball, understanding the the ups and downs and make it count when momentum is with us and we do those things well, we should beat them." Few will argue that South Africa's vice-captain should have found a more tactful or gentle way in coming to that conclusion.