South Africa won't let up pace barrage

Russell Domingo, the South Africa coach, has said the manner in which the Indian batsmen struggled against pace in the first two one-day internationals had reinforced their plan of attack for the two-Test series. India were dismissed for 217 and 146 in Johannesburg and Wanderers; the batsmen struggling to cope with the speed, bounce and swing of South Africa's all-pace attack.

"It's a big advantage. We spoke at the beginning of the one-day series that we wanted to put doubt in their minds in terms of the way they play pace," Domingo said. "They have always had issues playing pace in South Africa and that is what history shows. I don't know what is going on in their minds at the moment."

South Africa did not think it necessary to play a spinner in the first two ODIs, and chose their attack from Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell and allrounders Ryan Mclaren and Jacques Kallis.

"It (pace) is a South African strength. It is the way that we were brought up playing cricket," Domingo said. "Subcontinent sides will always turn to spin as an attacking option and South Africans will turn to pace because that is in our DNA. Having a four-pronged pace attack is important for us against a country like India in our conditions."

India were beaten by 141 runs on a fast and bouncy pitch at Wanderers but the surface at Kingsmead, where they lost by 134 runs, was not as menacing. Domingo said he would prefer pitches with more bounce and less lateral movement.

"Obviously the pitch we played on at Kingsmead on Sunday is not the type we want to play on," he said. It was a bit slower than we expected, a bit more suited to India, like the one on which we played Pakistan in Cape Town wasn't a pitch that we asked for because it was on the slow side.

"It depends on the weather conditions, what the square conditions are like, but it is very difficult to dictate to groundsmen what we are looking for. We not looking for lateral movement, but it would be nice to have pitches with pace and bounce."