South Africa fast bowler Monde Zondeki needs careful handling to ensure he reaches his potential, his captain Shaun Pollock said on Thursday.

Zondeki, one of only a handful of black players to represent South Africa, made the World Cup squad after bursting on to the international scene last month, taking a wicket with his first ball against Sri Lanka.

"Obviously we need to manage him correctly and give him the best opportunity to play as well as he can, but obviously nurture him too," Pollock told reporters in Johannesburg.

"He's still very young -- he's only played I think it's two one-day internationals for us.

"He's a real exciting talent. We need to get him in at the right times and look after him and there's no doubt that if we do that we'll reap the benefits a bit later on," he added.

Pollock said his squad had two training camps and two warm-up matches planned to ensure they were in peak mental and physical condition for the opening match of the tournament against the West Indies on February 9 in Cape Town.

South Africa have had a good run-up to the tournament, seeing off touring teams from Sri Lanka and Pakistan and knocking World Cup favourites Australia off the top of the world test rankings.

"We've had a good season... A very big part of a team's makeup is confidence," Pollock said.