CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Feb 11 (AFP) - South Africa's cricketers, fresh from dishing out a humiliating whipping of the once-mighty West Indies, arrived here Thursday ready to take on the world's lowest-ranked test-playing nation.

They received a setback however, when head coach Bob Woolmer stayed behind to remain with his very ill father in Cape Town.

Coaching duties will be taken over by assistant coach Graham Ford until Woolmer rejoins the touring party for the seven-week tour.

Captain Hansie Cronje admitted on his arrival that confidence among the tourists was high after routing the West Indies 5-0 in their home test series and winning the one-day internationals 6-1.

``There's a good feeling, but you only have to go back four months to see how low we were after the England tour,'' he said.

``We realise cycles of professional sport are very short these days and if we don't keep up our discipline and become complacent, we could return to South Africa just like the West Indians did.

``We've often said that what's in the past is history, but we certainly are confident. To beat a side is one thing, but to beat them convincingly is another.''

This is South Africa's first full tour of New Zealand since 1963-64 when they last visited during the apartheid era.

They played a one-off centenary test in 1995 which they easily won, and also played in the 1992 World Cup here, where New Zealand pulled off a surprise victory.

With the historic whitewash of the Windies behind them, it is hard to imagine anything other than a similar result in the three tests and six one-day matches to be played in this country.

In Allan Donald, Cronje has probably the best fast bowler in the world at his disposal, backed by two of the best all-rounders, Jacques Kallis and Shaul Pollock.

The attack is balanced by veteran off-spinner Pat Symcox and left-arm chinaman bowler Paul Adams, one of three coloured or black players in the 16-man squad.

South Africa has a powerful and experienced batting line-up led by Cronje, Daryl Cullinan, Jonty Rhodes, Gary Kirsten and Lance Klusener.

Although ranked bottom in the Wisden rankings, New Zealand will enter the series with rising confidence having beaten India 1-0 in a three-match test series in the first half of the home season. They shared the one-dayers 2-2.

Under Australian coach Steve Rixon, the Kiwis are beginning something of a revival and are often hard to beat on their own slower, low bouncing wickets. Last season, they had home series wins over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Cronje said he had limited knowledge of New Zealand but thought they had improved under Rixon.

``I think since Steve Rixon took over as coach, they have become more disciplined and I think generally a stronger side,'' he said.

New Zealand allrounders Chris Cairns and Dion Nash showed they were in good form against India while strike bowler Simon Doull ripped through the highly rated Indian batting line-up to line in the deciding second test in Wellington.

The New Zealand batting, led by captain Steven Fleming and the in-form Craig MacMillan, remains brittle and Indian paceman Javagal Srinath exposed technical shortcomings against the short-pitched ball which Donald and Pollock will no doubt exploit to the full.

The tour begins with a one-day warm-up match against an Academy XI in the South Island resort town of Alexandra on Saturday, followed on Sunday by the first one-day international in Dunedin.