South Africa's least favourite venue

Despite their poor record in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, considering their performances against West Indies, start as favourites © AFP

South Africa have won their last four series, while West Indies have lost six in a row. If past record and current form is anything to go by, South Africa should dominate the three-Test series which starts on Boxing Day. In 19 Tests between the two teams, South Africa have won 12, while their home record against West Indies is even more daunting - eight wins in nine games.

As the table below shows, all the South African batsmen have enjoyed plenty of success against West Indies. Jacques Kallis leads the way with an average of 77, but his numbers are even more impressive at home: in nine matches against West Indies he averages a staggering 108.81, with five centuries. In his last six home innings against them he has racked up four hundreds and a half-century, with a lowest score of 44. Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs are struggling for form, but both have relished the West Indian attack in the past.

Among the West Indian batsmen, their two left-handers, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, easily overshadow the rest. Gayle's average is the highest, and the fact that he coped well with the South African pitches in the past, averaging 61 from three Tests, makes it crucial that he recovers from his hamstring injury in time for the first Test. Daren Ganga, his opening partner, has struggled against South Africa: in 15 innings against them - 14 of them overseas - Ganga averages a measly 13, and has gone past 30 once.

The four South African bowlers from the current squad who have played West Indies in the past all have impressive records against them, with Andre Nel leading the way.

The West Indian bowlers have all found it extremely tough to take wickets against South Africa, though the numbers may not accurately reflect the skills of Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards, since both have improved considerably in the last year.

South Africa have generally done well at home, but Port Elizabeth has been a relatively tough venue for them: in 22 Tests, they have won only eight and lost ten. Since their re-admission to international cricket in 1992, they have done better here, with four wins in ten matches. The table below gives their venue-wise record at home since 1992 - in terms of win-loss ratio, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg remain the lowest.

The weather conditions suggest the captain winning the toss will prefer to field first, which is the route most captains have taken at this ground. In the ten Tests since 1992, the team winning the toss has fielded seven times, and of the seven games which have ended decisively, five have gone the way of the team bowling first.