A special venue for Kallis

Sri Lanka's unexpected win in Durban has opened up the series and left both teams with plenty to play for in the decider. Sri Lanka's first Test win in South African soil was also the home team's fourth successive defeat in a Durban Test, but despite that reversal South Africa will feel confident that they can restore their dominance in Cape Town, a ground where they haven't lost to any team other than to Australia since their readmission into Test cricket.

In 23 Tests during this period, they've won 15, drawn 5, and lost 3. Their last defeat here was in March 2006, and since that loss they've won five out of eight Tests. Australia have beaten them thrice, but South Africa got a modicum of revenge in November last year in a bizarre but fascinating Test, beating them by eight wickets despite getting bowled out for 96 in their first innings.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have lost both times they've played a Test here, but the last time they played one was way back in January 2001. They were thrashed by an innings and 229 runs on that occasion, which remains their heaviest Test defeat ever. It's 11 years since that debacle, but three players from the current squad - Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Dilhara Fernando - were a part of that humiliation, and over the next five days they have an excellent opportunity for revenge. No away team other than Australia has won here in the last two decades, but sides have managed to draw: India had the upper hand for a while in last year's draw, while England pulled off one of their last-pair heroics the year before that.

South Africa's batting came in for much criticism after the Durban defeat, and while Ashwell Prince has paid the price for that result, there'll also be pressure on some of the other batsmen in this match. Jacques Kallis has been their mainstay for several years now, but this home season hasn't been a memorable one so far: in seven innings he has averaged 14.83, and only once has he faced more than 50 deliveries in an innings. Durban was also a low point for Kallis - he bagged his first pair in a Test career that has spanned 16 years and 149 Tests. In his 150th, he'll want to bury that Durban memory. In fact, this is only the second time he has bagged more than one duck in a series.

Most venues across the world have been good to Kallis, but Cape Town has been particularly kind: he has scored 1874 runs here at 72.04, with centuries in four of his last seven innings; in last year's Test against India, he scored hundreds in each innings to rescue South Africa from a sticky position. There are only four instances of a batsman scoring more runs at one Test venue, and if Kallis has another good game here, he could become only the third batsman to score 2000 Test runs at a ground.

Some of the other South African batsmen have good memories of this ground too: Graeme Smith averages almost 59, and scored an unbeaten fourth-innings century the last time he batted in a Test here. Hashim Amla averages 41, but he too scored a hundred in that chase.

For AB de Villiers, however, Newlands hasn't been such a happy venue: he averages 29.41 here, which is the poorest among the home grounds where he has played more than one Test.

Among the South African bowlers, Dale Steyn has been a consistent wicket-taker here - his 45 is only eight short of the record at this ground. In his last eight Tests, he has taken at least six in each game.

For Sri Lanka Rangana Herath was the star in Durban, taking nine out of 20 wickets, and recent stats suggest he could be a factor at Newlands as well. In 2011, Harbhajan Singh took 7 for 120 in South Africa's second innings, while in 2010 Graeme Swann took five in the match.

In the last six years, though, fast bowlers have certainly done most of the wicket-taking, and at a much better average too.

In the last three Tests here the captain winning the toss has chosen to field, which suggests that conditions favour the fielding side when the pitch is fresh. In 11 Tests since the beginning of 2005, the team winning the toss has batted first six times, but have lost five of those matches. On the other hand, in the five games in which teams have won the toss and fielded, three have been drawn and two have been won by the team winning the toss.

The innings-wise average also suggests batting first isn't so easy here - the average runs per wicket in the first innings is only 30, while it increases to almost 35 in the second.