Monkey business

I am convinced the Pakistan team will be delighted to turn their backs on Dambulla. They have been on the receiving end of a lashing from a very professional and determined Lankan team. The home team's all for one and one for all attitude has had a galvanising effect and that display of unity is the complete antithesis of Pakistan's effort.

Pakistan, let's be blunt, have been poor. Nothing has gone right for them and they have not even looked like turning the tables. Rarely have I seen a team so outclassed and squeezed into submission.

The final nail in the coffin in Dambulla would have been the individual brilliance displayed by one of the good guys of cricket, Mahela Jayawardene. His innings of 123 from 106 balls was imperious and a strike rate of 114 emphasized his dominance. Not bad for a bloke who had only opened once before in his 302 ODI appearances (he got a duck against Zimbabwe) and whose career strike rate is 76!

So the end result for Pakistan is that they have now lost both a Test and One Day series in Sri Lanka for the first time and are in total disarray. It will take a near miraculous performance for them to get on the board with a victory in the remaining 2 games in the ODI series.

I, have my own reasons for being happy to be back in Colombo. They are monkey related.

I had a special farewell from some mischievous buddies the morning we left. I woke up early at 5.30am and went outside to my small hotel balcony for a coffee. I had just sat down (it was still dark) when an almighty commotion broke out some 10 metres away. Two red bearded monkeys with sinister faces came bounding up to me loudly proclaiming their intentions. Not being fluent in monkey gibberish was clearly a handicap, so I awaited their next move. In a flash the biggest one (about 4 feet tall) jumped on the table and proceeded to stare me down with black menacing eyes. We were a metre apart!

He clearly meant business. A lightning strike at my coffee cup that subsequently propelled it to the floor was enough notice for me as an early morning wake up call.

I jumped up and opened the sliding door to go inside my room as warnings about rabies infested monkeys flooded my head. Amazingly my new best friend tried to beat me to it! I yelled at him and he just cocked his head and blinked at me and muttered something unflattering in my direction. He was totally unfazed! I narrowly won the race to get back to interior safety but as I did so my bearded mate had one last unsuccessful swipe at my cell phone on the table inside. He eventually realised his luck was out and redface and his mate then bounded off screaming, clearly upset that their treasure hunt had failed.

It was not until I regaled my tale at the breakfast table later that I found out that 12 months previously the same suspect had a successful snatch and grab.

Then one of our television crew members had foolishly left his sliding door open. He embarked from his shower just in time to witness a 4 foot red bearded monkey bolt out of his sliding door with his laptop in one hand and a fistful of US dollars in the other!