Leading a hungry bunch of Lankan lions, Mahela Jayawardene is licking his lips, anticipating easy prey in an injury-depleted South Africa when the two sides meet in the first match of the Unitech Cup tri-series at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Monday.
Shoehorned into captaincy after a back problem rendered regular skipper Marvan Atapattu a hors de combat in March, Jayawardene has led the Lankans to glory. Under him, Sri Lanka drew the Test series against England 1-1 and then whitewashed the Poms, sweeping the ODI series 5-0.
The hosts, in the course of their 2-0 series win against the Proteas, know their opponents just too well and that would come handy tomorrow when they lock horns again with the familiar enemy.
Jayawardene, along with his comrade-in-arms Kumar Sangakkara, has emerged the mainstay of the Sri Lankan batting. Unlike so many others, he thrived in and didn't buckle under captaincy.
Before embarking on their run-up, the South African bowlers must be haunted by the nightmare of their first Test against the hosts in which Jayawardene hit 374 and Sangakkara struck 287 to bat them out of the match.
At the top of the Lankan batting order, veteran Sanath Jayasuriya continues to wield his bat with a wildness and insists he is not a spent force and the responsibility of giving the side a flying start would rest on the broad, 37-year-old shoulders of the veteran.
Talked out of his retirement by no less than Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Jayasuriya tormented the English bowlers in the ODI series and added another Man of the Series award to an already overflowing cupboard.
In Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malings, Ferveez Maharoof and Dilhara Fernando, the hosts have a quite potent pace attack which can run through the Proteas batting order. And in case they fail, the sheer sight of Muttiah Muralitharan, in his eyeball-popping, loose-limb action is enough to send shivers down the spine.
South Africa, on the other hand, don't look like the perfect match.
Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has been asked to lead a team sans Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp and Charl Langeveldt, while Johan Botha is out of contention owing to a suspect action.
Ashwell Prince led the Test side against Sri Lanka, but not a certainty in the ODI squad, wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has been entrusted with the unenviable job and he simply doesn't have enough weapons in his arsenal to pull the rug from under the hosts' feet.
And to add to his worry, a hamstrung Makhaya Ntini looks doubtful for the series, and worse, rain washed away their practice match yesterday, botching their efforts to get into the ODI mode after the Test series.
The eternal optimistic in Shaun Pollock, however, refuses to give in and he hopes newcomers like Loots Bosman, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus and Andre Nel won't be low on motivation because a good show here would earn them a berth in the Champions Trophy or even the World Cup.
But motivation alone might fall short and South Africa might need a miracle of sort to upstage the hosts tomorrow.
Squads (from):
South Africa: Mark Boucher (Captain/wicketkeeper), Boeta Dippenaar, Loots Bosman, Herschelle Gibbs, A B de Villiers, Shaun Pollock, Johan van der Wath, Robin Peterson, Andrew Hall, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus and Thandi Tshabalala.
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Marvan Atapattu, Chamara Kapugedera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Ruchira Perera.
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