Marcus North's chance to regain form

For a team struggling to recover from a shocking defeat in Sydney, it won't come as pleasant news that the last Test of the series will be played at a venue where Australia have never lost in eight Tests - they've won six and drawn two, both against New Zealand. Even worse, the last time Pakistan played a Test here, they let slip a similar golden opportunity to win: chasing 369 to win, Australia were languishing at 5 for 126 when Adam Gilchrist joined Justin Langer in a stunning partnership of 238 - aided, admittedly, by a couple of dodgy umpiring decisions - which snatched victory from Pakistan's grasp. Since then, Pakistan have lost nine more successive Tests against Australia, taking the overall losing streak to 11.

Hobart has only hosted three Tests since that memorable game against Pakistan in 1999, which explains why only three batsmen from their current line-up - Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke - have played Tests here. Hussey has been the most prolific, scoring hundreds in each of the two Tests - 137 against West Indies and 132 in 2005 against Sri Lanka a couple of years later.

Among Pakistan's current squad, Mohammad Yousuf (then Yousuf Youhana) is the only one to have played a Test here, and he didn't have a match to remember in 1999, scoring 17 and 2.

Digging a little deeper into the numbers, it isn't surprising that Hussey has plundered so many runs here - the Bellerive Oval has been particularly kind to Australia's left-hand batsmen over the last couple of decades. Mark Taylor, Langer, Matthew Hayden, Gilchrist, Phil Jaques, Allan Border and Matthew Elliott all average more than 55 here, with three of those names averaging more than 100. In fact, the overall average of Australia's left-hand top-order batsmen in Hobart over the last two decades is a whopping 89, which is much higher than at any other venue.

It isn't such a happy venue for Australia's right-handers, though - they average the lowest of any home venue during this period, which means the difference between the averages of the right and the left-hand batsmen here is almost 50. The success of left-handers should be good news for the struggling Marcus North - he has scored only 186 runs at 23.25 in five Tests this summer, but this could be an excellent opportunity to work himself back into some form.

Hobart is also a rare Australian venue where spinners have traditionally done better than fast bowlers. In eight Tests here, spinners have managed seven five-fors, with Shane Warne himself taking three. In terms of wickets at the venue among slow bowlers, three legspinners lead the way, which suggests Danish Kaneria could be a player to watch out for.

Fast bowlers average 40 runs per wicket here, but that's largely because overseas pace bowlers have been totally toothless here in the face of Australia's batting prowess. The Australian fast bowlers average 27.37 per wicket, which is only slightly more than their spinners' average.