No slacking off by Sri Lankans

It has become Scotland's cricketing Holy Grail: a victory, an official one, over a Test-playing nation. The natural order decrees that the odds are stacked against them, of course. But there have been opportunities squandered to cause a gargantuan upset.

Due to their slide down the pecking order, the Saltires have been granted just one chance this year to break their duck. Sri Lanka arrive in Edinburgh today for this week's triangular series against the hosts and Ireland, their final stopping point on a British tour which began almost two months ago. Thoughts of home, admits Angelo Mathews, are now infiltrating their minds.

However, warns the all-rounder, the demob will take place after Wednesday's one-day international against Gordon Drummond's side, not before. "We just want to try and win whether it's Scotland or Australia or India," he declares. "We want to beat the opposition comprehensively." Given their capabilities, it is no idle boast.

Mathews would gladly play on. Arguably his country's brightest young talent, the 24-year-old arrived late in England, following a tortured absence which began when he was forced to witness the World Cup final as a spectator. The knee injury he picked up in the semi-final was more devastating to mind than body. It was an occasion he had dreamed of when his father first handed him a cricket bat as a boy in Colombo. That Sri Lanka lost to neighbouring India merely rubbed salt in the wounds.

"It was very frustrating," he declares. "I was looking forward to the final. I missed a great chance when I couldn't play on. I felt very unfortunate but these things happen and you have to move on. It was very disappointing. That was my first World Cup. Playing in a final is something you dream of. It means a lot. I had three months off after I had surgery on my left knee. So it's been good to be back."

The obdurate form of the Sri Lanka top order has restricted his input with the bat while a lack of fitness, he confirms, has hindered his contribution with the ball. For a man who has stated his grand ambition to become the "best all-rounder in the game", patience has become a necessary virtue.

There is more work required, he admits. That is perhaps why he was passed over for the captaincy in April despite a sizeable clamour for the younger man to be installed. Tillakaratne Dilshan was given the role. If Mathews was disappointed, he hides it well. "I never expected anything, in terms of being the captain or vice-captain. I feel like I have a long way to go in my career. It's now about building up my cricket and being the best that I can."

It is an appropriate euphemism for both Scotland and Ireland, who will face each other on Tuesday. Having led the Associate nations to what might yet be a pyrrhic victory over the establishment on the thorny issue of World Cup qualification, the Irish would be delighted to make a further point to the ICC with yet another ambush.Sri Lanka are well aware of Ireland's capabilities. Scotland are a rather more unknown quantity. The countries have met only once before, in a three-day game in Poloc in 1979, when the intervention of the weather led to an honourable draw.

Mathews is reluctant to say whether the schedulers should make more room for the Associates to try their luck against the big boys, outwith the major tournaments. Better that they make their case by proving they are equals on the field.

"Of course they can do it," he affirms. "Any team can beat any team on any given day. Ireland has progressed really well. It's about having the character and the confidence that you get."

Legend has it that only the worthy can obtain the Grail. Scotland must display such qualities if the trophy scalp is to be theirs.