The historic victory over Australia in Antigua in May, secured through the highest winning total in Test cricket history, and the subsequent triumphs in the mini-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe represent an encouraging prelude to the coming four Tests against South Africa, the team second only to Australia on the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings.

Stranger than this have happened in this strange game but, given the wider record of the two teams over a longer period, it is the height of optimism to expect Lara, rather than South Africa's 23-year-old captain Graeme Smith, to be parading with the Viv Richards Trophy after the last Test at Centurion January 20. The West Indies' aversion to playing away is starkly reflected in their record of 26 defeats in the 33 Tests they have had on foreign fields since 1997.

Since their re-entry into international cricket in 1992 following the abolition of apartheid, South Africa have only succumbed in a home Test series to the Australians.

It would require a staggering reversal of form to overturn such statistics.

Instead, the West Indies would be content with a competitive performance, happy to win one Test, more than satisfied with a drawn series and, well, there is no word to adequately describe the reaction to an overall triumph.

They have lost seven of their eleven Tests against South Africa and won only two, both in the Caribbean.

Inevitably, the shadow of the 5-0 whitewash in the previous series here five years ago, Lara's first overseas in his first stint at the helm, still hangs heavy in the air although Lara was again at pains yesterday to stress it was no longer of any relevance.

"We've got the majority of guys here who were not involved in that series," he told the pre-match media briefing. "It's been a negative phase of West Indies cricket and we should not be lamenting it too much. These guys are here looking forward to making a name for themselves and leaving an imprint of what they're capable of, not in memory of anything that has gone by," he added.

Yet to avenge that humiliation on the first overseas campaign since returning to the captaincy last March is surely an incentive for Lara to add to his stated priority, moulding a team able to compete against anyone, anywhere.

There is also the matter of the hundred against South Africa that has eluded him in the 11 Tests between the teams. The West Indies have reverted to their traditional policy of an all-pace, no-spin attack that they have often discarded since Lara is again calling the shots.

Vasbert Drakes, returning to the country where he spent six prolific seasons in provincial cricket, and Corey Collymore, the West Indies' leading bowler since brought back into the team against Sri Lanka last June, were passed free of their niggling muscle strains that have bothered them of late and are in the eleven. They will form the attack alongside Merv Dillon, who plays his 30th Test, and Fidel Edwards, Lara's sensational find, whose pace and swing make him the likeliest wicket-taker in his fourth.

In each of their victories over Australia, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, Omari Banks, the tall, young off-spinner, played his part.

Lara used him for 52 overs, for a return of three expensive wickets, in the Antigua Test victory over Australia.

His 22 overs in Sri Lanka's first innings at Sabina Park earned him two timely middle order wickets. And he had five wickets from 54.1 overs in the win over Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last month.

Banks is still new to the art but brought variety that will be absent here. A stress fracture of the lower vertebra has sent him back to Anguilla for complete rest and Lara and his fellow selectors apparently did not feel confident enough that Dave Mohammed, the left-arm chinaman and googly specialist and the only genuine spinner in the team, had spent enough time in Johannesburg since his arrival on Monday to merit inclusion.

Perhaps Lara cast his mind back to the corresponding Test five years ago when leg-spinner Rawl Lewis was pressed into service within four days of his arrival as injured Dinanath Ramnarine's replacement. In a low-scoring match, Lewis could only claim a solitary wicket for 112 from 30.5 overs.

Smith, who leads for the first time in a home Test since he took over from Shaun Pollock following South Africa's humiliating first round exit in the World Cup in March, predicted the pitch would be "a belter", cricket- speak for plenty of runs and the need for discipline and variety in bowling.

It was a description that hinted that their selectors might opt for their one available spinner, the left-arm Robin Patterson.