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Cape Town - England's woeful ODI record at Newlands will not count for anything in Tuesday's clash against the Proteas, South African captain Quinton de Kock believes.
The current world champions have played a total of seven ODIs at Newlands since 1996, winning just once and losing six times.
Their only win at one of the most iconic venues in world cricket came during the 2003 Cricket World Cup when they beat Pakistan by a massive 112 runs.
England have played five ODIs against the Proteas at Newlands, losing all of them.
Their other match at the venue was against Zimbabwe in 2000, which they lost by 104 runs.
The closest England have come to beating the Proteas at Newlands was in 2000, meanwhile, when they went down by 1 run.
The Proteas had battled to a modest 204/7 from their 50 overs that day, but in reply England could only manage 203/9 with South Africa's bowling attack of Shaun Pollock, Nantie Hayward, Henry Williams, Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener all contributing.
Despite the statistics heavily against them, England enter Tuesday's match as world champions and slight favourites.
De Kock, speaking on the eve of the match, acknowledged that the statistics didn't count for a whole lot.
"We've never thought about that. We've not spoken about or dug that deep," De Kock replied when asked if his side's superior Newlands record meant anything going into the opening ODI.
"You never know. Every time they come here it's a different team that plays.
"This England team could come out firing and end up winning and then there goes the statistics. They've got some great players and they can easily change it around, but in saying that we'll try and keep it a winning note for us."
De Kock added that Newlands always made for a special setting, regardless of the results.
"What makes it special is that overseas teams want to play us here," he said.
"We do really well at this ground and it's just an awesome place to play and watch cricket."
Play on Tuesday starts at 13:00.
