Ganguly looking to bat first

The bad news for India is that it has played just one one-day international at The Newlands and ended up on the losing side.

The good news is that it plays Kenya on this very ground on Friday.

Cape Town is situated at sea-level, so the weather can become fairly windy at times but average temperatures of between 20 and 30 degrees celsius can be expected.

Sourav Ganguly feels that the toss will play a big part at Newlands and he hopes to win the toss and bat first.

The pitch that is being used is the same that was used for the Sri Lanka-West Indies encounter. Sri Lanka scored 228-6 and won that match by 6 runs, but it was not a very high scoring encounter.

The groundsman, Christo Erasmus, feels the match between India and Kenya will be more of the same but given Kenya's weak bowling attack we may expect India to get a few more runs.

Newlands was constructed way back in 1887 and the first Test was played here only two years later in 1889, between England and Republic of South Africa.

The capacity at the ground is 25,000 including the suites. The straight boundaries are 70 metres and the square ones are just slightly shorter, at 65 metres, and the outfield is quick.

In the early nineties, when the pitch aided pace bowling to the hilt, Pakistan were all out for 43, the third lowest score in one-day history, against a rampant West Indies attack. Things have changed since the arrival of Eramus and the wicket is a lot more sporting.

The ground is also a happy hunting ground for Daryl Cullinan, who has recorded centuries on each of his last four visits to the ground in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.

This is also the same ground where Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith dispatched the Pakistan attack to all parts of Newlands as they made the fourth-highest opening partnership in Test match history. The South African openers added a magnificent 368 in under 70 overs before Smith was bowled by Mohammad Zahid for 151 on the first day of the third Test on January 2, 2003.

So it does show if you decide to attack you can score quickly on this ground.