Normally the engine purrs smoothly in the manner of a Rolls Royce, the seating is all too comfortable and there is even a supply of arrack for after match cocktails.
Only last night Arjuna Ranatunga's friendly crew escaped into the darkness of the winelands driving an assortment of misfiring tuk-tuks as their dreams of qualifying for the Standard Bank Triangular series were blown apart by those twins of destruction Wasim and Waqar.
Chasing a victory target of 250 the Lankans were blow away for only 139; destroyed and embarrassed and Ranatunga wondering why he was not lucky enough to win the toss and get first use of the batting conditions.
After the sun went down and the moon came out, the dew soaked the outfield and the batting surface. The end result was defeat by 110 runs and the arrack had a bitter after taste for those who wanted to drown their sorrows supping of the Sri Lanka ``whisky'' substitute.
Dew encourages the ball to seam around with the artful pair of quicks laying waste to the Lankan top-order in the first 14 overs. It was awesome stuff for those locals who have read about being Wasimed amd Waqared; last night they got a chance to see for themselves why they are the most feared duo on the limited-overs slog circus.
When it was over with 15.4 overs remaining, Ranatunga, with a stoic stiff upper lip, felt Sri Lanka needed to win their remaining three games to restore some balance to a series which has become a two horse race with South Africa. He was also brave enough to admit his bowlers have been too inconsistent since the tour began.
Which is a little like suggesting they have been practising on a lunar surface and have yet (other than Muttiah Muralitharan, or is it Muralidharan?) to come down to earth. Either that or the Lanka bowlers are reaping the so-called benefits of playing on the unpredictable surfaces at home; some of which have no resemblance of the ``sea of tranquility''.
Naturally the victorius captain, Rashid Latif, was ``over the moon'', (a full silver orb graced the sky) the while man of the match, Wasim Akram, was hunting through his travelling kit for the misplaced shaving cream and razor berfore collecting the MOM gong. He didn't find the razor and sporting a Graham Gooch's six o'clock (in the morning) shadow was even interviewed on TV.
Words such as ``family and friends have suported me through the times of stress'' reminded us he was a late replacement on this tour and his match-winning three for 24 in 7.2 overs on controlled pace and swing. And with Waqar taking two for 41 the top-order disintergrated.
Waqar's victims were Sanath Jayasuriya and Ranatunga; both were lbw decisions over which no one could quibble. Wasim picked up Romesh Kaluwitharana, Roshan Mahanama and Upal Chandana. Yet such was their firepower the Lankans were hit below the waterline, 54 for four after 11.2 overs and only Aravinda de Silva remaining.
He perished, hitting too soon at a delivery from Abdul Razzak (or is it Abdur Razzaq as we had in the under-19 World Cup?) and his departure for 31 at 91 for five with at 21.2 overs ended Sri Lanka's fading hopes. It was an irresponsible stroke as the iaslanders need him to carry their flag aloft for as long as possible.
Pakistan were zipping along quite nicely when Inzamam-ul-Haq was ruled, by umpire Wulf Diedricks, to have touched the ball (TV replays showed it brushd his pad on the way through). His departure at 141 for three heralded the sort of middle-order collapse which caused a mid-innings crisis. Yousuf Youhana and Azhar Mahmood followed in rapid succession without contributing to the scoreboard.
Muralitharan (that name again) picked up wickets with the third and last balls of the 25th over of the innings with the score stranded on 141. The bowler with the wonky elbow extracted bounce and turn which caused serious problems to all but Ijaz Ahmed whose batting was a skilful bit of technical footwork.
Ijaz managed 65 off 78 balls with a six and five fours, all well-placed and looked the part of an achorman until he ran himself out by running wide of the crease; not at all the clever thing to do.
Sri Lanka must have gone out with some confidence of levelling the series 1-1. So much for their plans. Wasim and Waqar gatecrashed the after-match party and ran off with the spoils.