South Africa has been the superior team over the last decade in the contest against the West Indies. The latter has managed just the solitary series-win when the Proteas traveled the Caribbean islands in 1992.

Chris Gayle, the captain in the absence of Ramnaresh Sarwan, is hopeful of taking the field in the first of three Tests against the potent South African outfit tomorrow in Port Elizabeth. The volatile opening batsman has never skippered his team in the longer version of the sport.

Dwayne Bravo will lead the inexperienced West Indies outfit in the absence of Gayle. Neither player has led the team in Test cricket up till now. Although, both have achieved good success in limited-overs. – Gayle led the team to T20 and ODI victories in England and Bravo won three consecutive matches as captain in the recently concluded series against Zimbabwe.

"It's (ankle) improved a lot the last couple of days. The physio has been doing a terrific job and hopefully it improves over the next couple of days,” Gayle was quoted as saying.

Cape Town and Durban will host the second and third Tests respectively. This will be only the fifth Test series between the two teams. Shaun Pollock and the Proteas thumped West Indies 3-0 during the 2003-04 tour.