THE WORLD waits with bated breath to see how South Africa will react in the second Test that gets under way today against the West Indies, who have made a truly inspirational start to its tour by winning both matches against the Africans' national team, especially the first Test upset.

The regional team beat South Africa by five wickets in a watered-down Twenty20 match that was reduced to a 13-over-a-side affair because of rain. The West Indies decimated the South African batting as they scored a mere 58 for eight, then replied with 60 for five off 9.5 overs, following a brief stumble in the 30s when four wickets were lost.

Then, on Sunday, the West Indies wrapped up an historic victory over the Proteas, beating the highly-fancied hosts - who are ranked second in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings behind Australia - by 128 runs with a day to spare.

That victory was built largely on their first innings score of 408, in which Shivnarine Chanderpaul (104), Man-of-the-Match Marlon Samuels (94) and skipper Chris Gayle (66 off 49 balls) accumulated most runs.

All the other innings produced below par Test match scores with South Africa bowled out for 195 in their first innings, the West Indies 176 in their second and finally, South Africa 260.

Since beating England in Birmingham by an innings and 93 runs in June 2000, the victory was the first Test match win for the Caribbean team in an away series against top-class opposition.

The historic Test win was also the West Indies' first against South Africa in South Africa, as the regional side had been easily brushed aside in eight previous Test matches - 5-0 in the 1998-99 series and 3-0 in 2003-04.

Added to that, one must not forget that in the opening match of this current tour, the Windies were hammered by 10 wickets by South Africa A team inside three days.

Factors for victory

There were a number of rather interesting scenarios that played a part in the team's victory which must be maintained if it is to continue reaping success against top rung opponents in Tests.

Apart from the second innings flop that was triggered by the run out of opening batsman Daren Ganga, who hit a second innings top score of 45, the bowling, batting and fielding was of Test match standard.

The West Indies only dropped two catches in the entire match. Darren Sammy put down a sharp chance, then Darren Powell put down another.

A high level of control was displayed by the fast bowlers who displayed consistency as far as line and length were concerned, even when they were delivering some well-directed bouncers. What it has translated to is that Powell, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Bravo have been effective in two ways, returning decent figures and getting wickets.

Gayle's leadership style has had an impact and he's leading from the front, too. Sixty-six from 49 balls truly set the tone in more ways than one, with much talk about South African speedster Dale Steyn and the Windies' poor record previously, dominating the pre-Test discussions.

Captaining in Test cricket for the first time, Gayle's all-inclusive and free-spirited approach appears to have rubbed off on the team and especially, one important member, fellow Jamaican Marlon Samuels, whose contributions of 94 in the first innings and 40 in the second laid a huge part of the foundation for the team's success.

Chanderpaul scored heavily in the first innings and continues to be a mark of consistency, his ton enabling him to equal a Test cricket record of seven consecutive fifties held by fellow West Indian Everton Weekes and Zimbabwean Andy Flower.

During the match, the West Indies played along with a trend that is now common in Tests of not enforcing the follow-on despite a first innings advantage of 213 runs.

Positiveness

Sometimes, I believe too much respect is afforded the opposition based on their standing in international cricket and not on the state of the game.

Tired bowlers or not, I'd bet on the West Indies enforcing the follow-on against say a Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

The approach some times makes the big difference between winning or losing, as confident people are more liable to deliver according to potential.

Only this sort of positiveness will effectively counter any South African reaction and prove to the world that these early signs of West Indies resurgence are for real.