Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur hasn't been a frequent visitor to his home country since he left the Proteas job in 2010.
However, he knows what's needed to win a Test series on the bouncy surfaces on these shores.
His side also have the fast bowlers to rattle a talented but brittle South African batting order that's still adapting to life after AB de Villiers.
The likes of Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali and Yasir Shah are skilled bowlers who showed in the United Arab Emirates and England they can bowl on any type of pitch.
Arthur knows they hold the key to Pakistan having any chance of their first Test series win in SA. They've only won two Tests since their first red-ball match in 1994/95. A
rthur, however, knows SA's bowling attack isn't to be trifled with even though they'll be without Lungi Ngidi's services, while Vernon Philander is a doubt for the first Test on Boxing Day at SuperSport Park with a hand injury.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that SA's bowling attack is very good. They may have Lungi Ngidi out and I'm not sure about Vernon Philander's fitness, but Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada are incredible bowlers.
"We know that it's going to be an incredible challenge for us. We do feel that even though SA have a good batting line-up, we have a very good bowling line-up. We do feel that we can make some inroads in that respect," Arthur said.
Pakistan's bowling prowess is undercut by their average batting that flattered to deceive in their recent home Test series loss to New Zealand. In the first and the third Tests of the series, Pakistan had leads of 74 that led to four and 123-run defeats.
Though they won the second Test by an innings and 16 runs, Pakistan scored more tons in the series, but had nothing to show for them. Arthur acknowledged their batting needed work in terms of adjusting to SA's conditions, but felt they can bat better in SA.
"The game's tempo in the UAE is the slowest in the world because of the conditions.
"The wickets are slow. They offer turn and the pace is variable so when you get bowlers who bowl straight lines to straight fields, it becomes difficult to score without taking risks. When you play in SA, the game speeds up at the start and meanders off at some point and I think that suits us," Arthur said.
"I think our young batting group bats better outside the UAE than they do there.
"We saw in England that the guys batted very well and we've got some young batsmen who not only move to off-stump, but they cover the pace, bounce and swing. We had opportunities in the first and the third Tests to nail our first innings where we got leads but they weren't big enough. That's something we'll be working hard on in regards to players getting in but not going the whole way."
Proteas coach Ottis Gibson was a teammate of Arthur at Griqualand West [now Northern Cape], but is relying on this week's round of four-day franchise matches for the batsmen to get into red-ball shape."
"The bowlers won't play in the four-day game, but for the batsmen a lot depends on how they go in the next few days or so. I think it's the batters who are most likely to play this week."..