Runs at a premium in the Dome

The Telstra Dome roof is likely to stay shut throughout the Super Series © Getty Images

With the three one-day internationals in the Super Series to be played at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne, it's definitely worth taking a closer look at one of the more unusual venues in world cricket. Having gone through a few names in its short lifetime, the Dome has been used just six times for international cricket, with Australia coming out on top just twice, losing three and with the other match finishing as a tie.

The roof, the most notable part of the stadium, has been on for all six of the matches and it is expected to stay firmly shut for the three games, all day-nighters, which start on Wednesday. With day-night cricket, the normal modus operandi is to bat first, since the ball appears to move all over the place when the sun goes down, and is of course, slightly more difficult to see in artificial light. At the Telstra Dome, however, the team batting first has won just two of the six matches, and one of those was the very first match, between Australia and South Africa in 2000.

Runs also don't seem too easy to come by at the venue, with the 295 scored by the home team in that first match far and away the highest total made there. In fact, the average score made by the side batting first is just 219, and on two occasions, the side batting first has got nowhere near the 200 mark. The highest target made to win a match is 247, achieved by New Zealand last year.

With just six games played there, it's tough to take too many pointers from the matches in terms of individual performances, but it is perhaps worth noting that Adam Gilchrist, who struggled with the bat on the Ashes tour, has made three half-centuries in six innings.