Unless the weather conditions force a change in thinking, the captain who wins the toss is almost certain to bat - that has happened in 77 out of 87 matches so far. And the pitch here is usually one which is excellent for batting on the first three days, before becoming much more bowler-friendly - the average runs per wicket in each of the four innings since 1995 is 42.89, 42.53, 24.20, and 21.25. The true nature of the pitch and the lack of early assistance for the seam and swing bowlers has meant that openers have generally prospered here. In ten Tests since 1995, there have been eight hundreds scored by openers, who average almost 47 in that period. That'll be especially good news for Matthew Hayden, who has had a wretched series so far with 180 runs at an average of 22.50. The huge difference between first and second-innings totals might suggest that spinners do much better than fast bowlers here, but that isn't the case - in the last ten years, the pace bowlers have taken 207 wickets at 35.80, while the 86 wickets taken by spinners have come at 33.36 apiece.