Bounce will always be the trick

This is one advantage that the Aussies, South Africans and the West Indies have on their home soil when they have pitches that can offer uneven bounce. May be that is the reason why bowlers like Curtly Ambrose, Walsh, Ian Bishop, Glenn McGrath, Damien Fleming etc happen to be from that side of the cricketing world though there are the likes of Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Chaminda Vass etc who hail from the sub-continent. But, when it comes to bounce, it has to be no other team but the West Indies. Australia and South Africa follow behind.

This time, Sri Lanka are expected to take on South Africa on their home soil in days to come when batsmen like Jayawardane, Sangakkara and Samaraweera happen to face the wrath of Dale Steyn, Morkel and newly joined pacer Vernon Philander who had some splendid performances in the IPL earlier this year in India. On the other hand, Sri Lanka will be missing the services of Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vass and Nuwan Kulashekara leaving only the somewhat in form pacer Dilhara Fernando to do his bit for Sri Lanka. I wonder whether such a weak outfit from Sri Lanka has even toured South Africa in the last decade?

Problem regarding the teams like South Africa, Australia and West Indies lies in them tackling spin bowling which made their life hell whenever they toured Sri Lanka with Muralitharan there in the team. But, spin has little or absolutely no effect in the pitches of South Africa for Sri Lanka to try their luck. In that case, the presence of Ajantha Mendis would be only to fill in the vacancy so that the team consists of eleven players. Of course, Ajantha Mendis also is not a perfect turner of the ball which forms a different story altogether. But, the fear for spin bowling can be capitalized by Mendis.

In case there happens to be a fear for spin bowling in the minds of the South African batsmen, then may be spinners from Sri Lanka can have a ball which can rarely happen with the South African team well aware that they are the hosts. And, moreover there is no Muralitharan to do miracles with the ball. But, if Dale Steyn happens to have his words come true, then the ball might just hit the highest point of the bat. And, Dale Steyn's words have a greater probability of coming true, given his form and fitness since the past two years or so.

Sri Lanka dare not to overstep

Well if one side of the incident where a Sri Lankan team bus gets targeted by terrorists on March 1^st 2009 makes us feel insecure, sometimes the same thing makes us laugh for the Sri Lankan team being so stupid to tour the trouble torn nation. No doubt that the match was heding towards a thrilling finish before the unexpected happened. This was one such situation where a match happened to be abandoned not due to rain or bad weather but due to terror attacks. The overall blame and responsibility totally lied on the Sri Lankan team for reasons mentioned above.

There was absolutely no reason not only for Sri Lanka but for anybody who is scheduled to play in Pakistan at that time when the country was fresh from major terror attacks and warnings regarding the same. That was the time when all major cricketing nations pulled themselves back from their tours of Pakistan that included the likes of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, England and the West Indies. It was India who were about to tour Pakistan and after the Mumbai attacks took place, India became the 6^th country to join the elite list who didn't want to risk their lives.

It was more than one year from the date the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus took place that all the aforementioned nations canceled their tour to Pakistan that Pakistan had stopped hosting cricket on its soil. That is one such record that only Pakistan alone can boast of. Of course, India's reason not to tour Pakistan was rivalry between the countries rather than security concerns in Pakistan. It was in that tour that India was replaced by Sri Lanka and the unexpected expected took place at Lahore. Likewise, there has been egg throwing incidents in Australia when Muttiah Muralitharan happened to be a victim.

But, that could have been forgiven and so would have been the LTTE blast near the team hotel when a triangular series involving Sri Lanka, India and South Africa was scheduled to take place. And, two years after the incident has taken place, once again concerns are raised regarding the security situation in Pakistan by the same team that witnessed live horror then. If anybody can go through the latest news about Pakistan, the Sri Lankan team can look no further before deciding whether to or not to tour Pakistan. May be, if they do so, the players can never be given another chance to think.