Watch out Smith & Co

Skipper Graeme Smith will be eyeing a whitewash, but he ought to take these Sydney stats into consideration before getting too excited over Australia's current foibles

Watch out Smith & Co

Skipper Graeme Smith will be eyeing a whitewash, but he ought to take these Sydney stats into consideration before getting too excited over Australia's current foibles

Some domination, this!
GRAEME Smith would be upbeat and confident of beating a deflated Australia (two-nil down in the series) in the Sydney Test which starts on Saturday. But he would not be very happy to learn that Australia have won their last five Tests in Sydney. The last time they ended up losing at this New South Wales venue was in January 2003 when England came up with a 225-run win.

In the last 20 seasons, Australia have been beaten only thrice at the SCG u2013 by South Africa in 1993-94, Pakistan in 1995-96 and England in 2002-03.

Success percentage
OUT of the total of 96 Tests played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia have won 52, enjoying a success percentage of 54.17. Touring teams have managed to win only 27 games while 17 encounters ended in draws.

Only one SA win to show
AUSTRALIA enjoy an out and out edge at the SCG against South Africa. The Aussies and Proteas have clashed 10 times with the hosts winning seven matches. The South Africans have won only one Test at this famous ground while two Tests were drawn.

The great chase
Graeme Smith and his mates won't forget Australia's successful 287-run chase in the 2005-06 Test in Sydney. Despite getting the first innings lead, the Proteas ended on the losing side by eight wickets thanks to Matthew Hayden's 90 and Ricky Ponting's unbeaten 143 in the second innings. Ponting scored a hundred in each innings in that Test.

Ricky's den
RICKY Ponting, whose century went in vain in the last Test at Melbourne, has an awesome record at the SCG. In 13 Tests, he has amassed 1282 runs at an average of 75.41. These inspiring figures include five hundreds.

Hall of fame
PONTING is also the highest overall run-getter at the SCG. He is fourth on the list of averages there but the man at the top is India's Sachin Tendulkar, who enjoys a whopping average of 221.33 followed by England batting legend Wally Hammond (161.60) and VVS Laxman (96.30)

Matt's favourite
THE SCG is a happy hunting ground for out-of-form Matthew Hayden too. In 10 Tests, the big Queenslander has scored 892 runs at an average of 55.75. His century tally there is four.

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