South Africa aim to rediscover their Test rhythm

South Africa hope to ease themselves back into the long format in the UAE after several months of limited-overs fare, while Pakistan will be looking to take down another No. 1 team at "home"

That's what Graeme Smith thinks he is going to say when his team step across the boundary on Monday morning. Those four words contain no mystery. They are a simple, to the point instruction, which explains how the world's top-ranked Test team plans to approach their series against Pakistan.

On the surface, it seems a safety-first stance. South Africa have not played Test cricket since the last week in February and have not been away from home in whites for 11 months. They've realised they will need a bit of time to find their feet, adjust to foreign conditions and get back into what they've termed a "pattern of play".

But they also understand they can't take too long to get back into the groove. There is a lot at stake in this series - not least of which being that it could become the most important Test cricket South Africa is involved in in 2013 because the India tour remains in limbo.

Maintaining a sizeable gap at the top of the Test rankings is dependent on how South Africa play in the UAE. Anything less than a clean sweep will send South Africa backwards, because of the weighting system which highlights the difference between the two sides.

As the No. 1 outfit, South Africa are expected to beat Pakistan, who sit at No. 6. So if they draw, they drop points and if they are defeated, they drop even more points. There's a good chance these intricacies don't matter at the moment, even with the Test championship launched and the race to the final four in 2017 having begun (who is really aware of that at this early stage anyway?), but they may serve as a small incentive and could mean South Africa puts the onus on themselves to play aggressive cricket.

Conditions are not expected to suit a fast-moving game, especially in Abu Dhabi. Smith said the pitch looked "pretty similar" to the one South Africa played on in 2010. That was the first Test the ground hosted and there was only one innings in which a team was bowled out. The total number of runs scored over the five days was 1374, an average 274.8 a day.

The other two matches there yielded one draw between Pakistan and Sri Lanka and a victory for Pakistan over England. The latter was the only fixture which saw a team bowled out in an innings for under 100 - England were dismissed for 72. Twice, teams have bowled out for less than 200 on the surface and five of the 12 innings played there have not had all 10 wickets fall.