- Proteas fielding coach Justin Ontong says they're longing for a Test series win against the West Indies.
- The Proteas did have one against Sri Lanka at the start of the year, but travelling has been rather difficult for them.
- SA hasn't won a Test series on the road since their 1-0 success against Sri Lanka in 2014.
That the Proteas haven't won a series on the road since their Sri Lanka sojourn in 2014 isn't something that's lost on Proteas assistant coach Justin Ontong.
He was still a senior player at the Cape Cobras and was still in the national T20 team frame at the time, while Test captain Dean Elgar was starting to bed in as an opener next to Alviro Petersen.
With the innings and 63-run win in the first Test against the West Indies in St Lucia being South Africa's first Test win on the road since their 340-run humbling of England in Nottingham in July 2017, it's been slim pickings from a winning perspective outside of South Africa.
It is for these reasons that Ontong is relishing a win in the second Test that starts on Friday in St Lucia.
"A series win would be huge. That is something we're longing for," Ontong said.
"In terms of our cricket, we want to play a winning brand of cricket and we want to make the people back home proud.
"If we can continue playing the sort of cricket that we're playing, we hope to become world beaters and also get some wins away from home. Those are crucial and we don't take those for granted."
One of South Africa's weaknesses has been their fielding. It came under sharp scrutiny during the Pakistan Test series earlier this year where dropped catches cost Test matches.
On a Daren Sammy Cricket Ground pitch that offered lavish lateral movement and bounce through the three days, slip catching was going to be the difference between the teams.
South Africa caught everything that came their way on all three days and Ontong expects the players to raise their standards for the second Test.
"It is something that we've come under criticism for recently, so there's been a big emphasis in trying to get it right," Ontong said.
"Also, our personnel has changed a bit and our slip catching in the first test was outstanding.
"We have a couple of young faces there and we really needed to work hard in that particular aspect, while the wicket was also helpful.
"For the second Test, we'll put a lot of emphasis into sharpening that department again."
For once, South Africa was able to get all three departments working where the bowling prevented the West Indies from getting to 200 in both innings.
While the batting remains a work-in-progress, there was a welcome return to form ton from Quinton de Kock while solidity was offered by Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram in testing conditions paved the way for De Kock's match-winning contribution.
Ontong admitted that it is not going to be that easy in the second Test.
"We were brilliant in all three departments and those are the standards we've set for ourselves, but it's not going to be that easy the second time round,"
"There will be harder work behind the scenes to ensure the standards won't be dropped and I hope we can continue in that direction."