Everything that the West Indies would, or should, have known about the trials that faced them in South Africa was confirmed in the first Test.

South Africa's position, second only to Australia on the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test standings compared to their eighth, was not misleading.

South Africa had only been beaten at home since their re-entry into international cricket in 1992 by the Australians. The West Indies' record overseas was a damning 25 defeats in 34 Tests.

They had to recognise that the only way they could compete was for all 11 players to be fully fit, for every player to be at the top of his game and for what luck there was to fall their way.

Their fate was all but sealed when they lost the toss on a pitch that became increasingly uneven in bounce under hot, incessant sunshine and when Chris Gayle pulled up with his torn hamstring that rendered him a virtual non-participant from midway through the first day.

Jerome Taylor, Marlon Samuels and Omari Banks had already been stricken and had to be replaced, an early disruption to team plans and unity. Gayle's injury was a further setback compounded by the decision to risk Corey Collymore's own, suspect hamstring.

Collymore is a combative cricketer who has had to overcome adversity more than once to get where he is. Since his belated return to the Test team, he has been consistently the best bowler, but to take him into the Test in his condition was an ill-advised gamble, as was soon clear.

So nine and a half West Indians were up against 11 South Africans, until mid-way through the fourth day when Herschelle Gibbs was felled by Vasbert Drakes, an injury that hardly mattered at that stage to anyone but Gibbs.

It was an intolerable imbalance that not even Brian Lara's singular brilliance could overcome, especially as Wavell Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan still were short of the form and confidence that would help them compensate for Gayle's absence.

The West Indies would, or should, have also been aware who their greatest individual threats were.

They were Graeme Smith, the opposing captain, and the nucleus of all-round experience he had under him; Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock, the two finest allrounders in the contemporary game, Gibbs, the aggressive opener, and Makhaya Ntini, the seasoned fast bowler.

Smith and Kallis set up the victory with their first-innings hundreds and Pollock and Ntini shared 14 wickets.

For the West Indies, their four fast bowlers could only manage nine wickets between them and Lara, with his first innings double, Daren Ganga, with his dogged first innings 60, and Shivnarine Chander-paul, with his classy second-innings 74, were the only batsmen to measure up to the challenge.

While Gibbs was unusually scratchy and had his nose broken missing a hook at Vasbert Drakes, his opening partnership of 149 with Smith on the first day was an immediate statement of intent by the South Africans.

Kallis and Pollock had played in the previous 10 Tests between the teams, Gibbs in nine and Ntini in four in the Caribbean in 2001. The West Indies should have been well acquainted with their strengths and weaknesses.

They had never previously come across Smith and Lara's comment prior to the Test that he had never seen him bat revealed an ominous omission in planning.

No video footage of South Africa's series in England during the summer or Zimbabwe's two Tests in Australia that preceded the West Indies trip there, was available to coaches or players prior to the tour.

According to coach Gus Logie, what they did get from England was on the PAL system and useless since the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) only had NTSC videorecorders.

As far as Zimbabwe was concerned, there was nothing- PAL, NTSC, whatever. When, on arrival in Harare, the West Indies management asked the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) to borrow some tapes of their Australian Tests, they drew an understandable refusal from officials, shocked by their temerity.

These are astonishing, but thoroughly believable, stories that help to explain the current state of West Indies cricket.

Smith's run-scoring, as anyone who watched the reel of his back-to-back double hundreds in England last summer could attest, is heavily biased towards the legside. He is clearly restricted on the off.

It was intelligence that clearly escaped the West Indies bowlers while he was taking 22 fours off them in his 132 on the first day.

The information that would not have been readily available concerned the improvement in Ntini and Andre Nel.

Even the South African media was openly concerned about the lack of bowling penetration entering the series. With Pollock slower, if no less accurate, than he had been and Alan Donald retired, they wondered who would get the West Indies out,

Ntini's effectiveness had always been compromised by the sharp angle of his over-the-wicket delivery from wide on the return crease. Now he was a couple of feet straighter, a change that required hard work and discipline, and the rewards were five bowled and one lbw of his nine wickets.

Tall and strong, Nel always had pace but his inaccuracy blocked his way into the Test team. He was widely expected to be omitted from the final 11, but wise selectors had noticed his improvement following his season in English county cricket with Northamptonshire last season.

He was a revelation, not only to West Indians confronting him for the first time since he had a few one-day internationals in the Carib-bean two years ago, but to South Africans as well.

He added a few kilometres an hour in pace and was their fastest and most hostile bowler. Only childish, if not boorish, behaviour which finally earned him a fine, spoiled his performance.

On a pitch of uneven bounce, he was a handful. On something flatter and more predictable, he may not be as dangerous but only Chanderpaul in the second innings was comfortable against him. Even Lara had his anxious times.

Lara's cock-sure mood after the defeat was reassuring, if overly optimistic. The captain's form and attitude usually dictate the disposition of his team.

On the disastrous tour here five years ago, Lara's form was patchy, his attitude detached. There has been a marked difference this time.