The Proteas regained top spot in the ICC test rankings with a first series win in Sri Lanka in 21 years last month, while Zimbabwe are coming off a disappointing home drawn one-day international series against Afghanistan.
There looks to be only one potential winner, but new South Africa captain Hashim Amla, so impressive in his debut series in Sri Lanka having taken over the reins from Graeme Smith, said they will play as hard as if it were Australia in front of them.
"For us it will be business as usual. Test cricket and international cricket, you can never let your guard down. It’s quite important to keep the winning ways and that’s what we intend on doing,” he told reporters.
"We are going to try and play the game as intensely as we play every test match. Test cricket is not something that you take for granted whether you’re ranked at the top or the bottom. On any given day someone can perform, so we are not going to be taking it any lightly.”
That suggests there will be little tinkering with the team that won in Sri Lanka, injuries aside, and having retained the same squad that did duty on the sub-continent, South Africa are unlikely to take their big-guns on tour for a rest. The likes of opener Alviro Petersen and leg-spinner Imran Tahir will seek to use the opportunity secure much-needed runs and wickets respectively as questions have been raised about their positions in the side after a poor showing in recent times.
The last occasion these teams met was nine years ago on South African soil when the Proteas won both games by an innings.
A teenage Brendan Taylor, now captain of the side, played for Zimbabwe then and he has optimistically promised a better showing.
"We will perform better than we did in Centurion (Pretoria) a decade ago. We will definitely give a good account of ourselves," he told reporters.
Zimbabwe’s previous test victory was at home against the notoriously inconsistent Pakistan in September last year when, with the series already lost, they won the third match by 24 runs.
That is their only win against a side other than Bangladesh in 13 years since victory over India in 2001.
Zimbabwe, ranked ninth of the 10 test-playing nations, have never won a test against a side from outside the sub-continent and their seven previous meetings with South Africa have resulted in six defeats and a drawn match in Bulawayo, also in 2001.
(Reporting by Nick Said; editing by Justin Palmer; nick.said@thomsonreuters.com +27832722948 Messaging nick.said.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)
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