All to play for in Cape Town

After Pakistan won a Test for the first time ever in South Africa at the weekend to square the series at 1-1, the two sides have everything to play for when they face up in the deciding Test, which begins in Cape Town on Friday.

Pakistan were superb in the second Test, in what was almost a mirror image of the first Test, with a total of around 200 successfully chased for victory.

The tourists were much improved, particularly with the ball, from the first Test while a fabulous innings from Inzamam-ul-Haq set them up for the win, before Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan saw them home in the final innings.

However, the big worry for them as they go for the series win is the absence of Shoaib Akhtar, who did so much in the first innings to put them in a good position, Without his pace to worry about, South Africa's batsmen should be able to take their time and build a big innings.

On the other hand, the decision to rest Shaun Pollock - a strange one - weakens South Africa's bowling attack and weakens the control they have when he is in the side.

Nevertheless, South Africa are now 11/10 (2.10) for victory, while bet365 have Pakistan at 5/2 and the draw is a 2/1 chance.

Cape Town has not exactly been a fortress for South Africa, though, as they have won just 14 and lost 19 of the 41 Tests there. That, though, is somewhat misleading as they have won 12 of the last 20 and their only two losses in the last 10 came at the hands of Australia.

Kallis the man
As he has been in the first two matches, Kallis is the favourite to be top South Africa batsman in the first innings, at 3/1.

The right-hander averages 67 at Cape Town and since he's in great form, he deserves favouritism once more.

With Herschelle Gibbs losing his ban and subsequently out of the side, captain Graeme Smith is 4/1 second favourite , while in-form Ashwell Prince is 9/2 (5.50). Boeta Dippenaar, who could fill in for Gibbs, is 5/1 and Jacques Rudolph, Hashim Amla and AB De Villiers are all 6/1 (7.00). Mark Boucher is a 9/1 chance.

For Pakistan, the return of Mohammad Yousuf was a big boost for Pakistan in the second Test, and he shares favouritism with the other two members of the big three, Younis Khan and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq at 7/2.

Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez are next at 11/2.