A mixed venue for both teams

South Africa will look to take the bull by the horns and push for a win in the fourth Test to level a series that they have, for the most part, dominated. The Bullring has been known to intimidate visiting teams in the past, but England will feel confident of sealing the series at a venue where both teams have a mixed record: South Africa have won eight and lost seven since their readmission, while England have a 2-2 win-loss record.

One trend South Africa will surely be wary of is England's uncanny knack of following up Houdini-acts of the Cape Town kind with thumping victories. In this series, South Africa have already been at the receiving end of this two-act routine, with the Durban drubbing coming after the Centurion thriller. Prior to that, it was the turn of Australia to suffer as, the Ashes-opening Cardiff classic was followed by a fluent win at Lord's. The last occasion before Cardiff when England's final pair staved off defeat was way back in 1998 when Robert Croft and Angus Fraser defied South Africa for more than five overs. Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini are the only survivors from that series which England promptly went on to level in the next match in Trent Bridge. Graeme Smith will be anxious to ensure there is no such repeat act in Johannesburg.

The Wanderers, like most South African grounds, has been known to produce good wickets for Test matches. Only five matches out of twenty have been drawn since 1992, while the toss has not had a major say in the outcome.

The Wanderers' pitch has traditionally remained true through the duration of the match - the drop in average from the first innings to the fourth is less than seven runs here.

As has been the case in all the venues in this series, Jacques Kallis leads the run-tally at the Wanderers too, and is only six runs away from reaching 1000 runs here. Graeme Smith will look to carry his good form to Johannesburg, where he has a strong record, while the beleaguered Ashwell Prince can seek succour from his reasonable numbers here. Andrew Strauss had a fantastic outing here on the last England tour when, along with Matthew Hoggard and Marcus Trescothick, he scripted a win that gave his side the series.

The Wanderers wicket is not the most receptive to spin bowling and it will be interesting to see the impact this has on the South African selectors. Graeme Swann tops the wickets chart for the series and will look to continue to wield the same kind of influence in the decider, while Paul Harris' series has floundered badly after a seven-wicket haul in the first Test. With the pre-match talk predicting a green-top, he could well get the axe.

Harris' cause is not helped by his record. He has featured twice in Tests here, but his skills have been markedly underused - on an average he has sent down less than 12 overs per innings, for a total of four wickets. Makhaya Ntini has had a series to forget so far, but his record here is a reminder to what he was once capable of. Dale Steyn has great numbers here and could well emerge as South Africa's game-breaker in the decider, while Morne Morkel has played only one Test here.