Eighteen months ago talented Cape Town batsman JP Duminy was playing one-day Internationals for South Africa against Sri Lanka on the Indian Ocean island.
It was not a successful experience - he scored 29 runs in five matches as the Proteas lost all their games.
Since then Duminy has been overtaken in the national pecking order by other batsmen, including provincial team-mate Ashwell Prince.
But his designs on donning the South African cap again will not have dimmed, even though he has had a couple of spells out with hand injuries since 2004.
On Friday in their opening Pro20 match against the Dolphins at Newlands, Duminy will be one of the batsmen the Cape Cobras will be looking to to resuscitate their season after a disastrous, winless Standard Bank limited-overs competition.
Limited-overs cricket is primarily a batsman's game, and this is the department where the Cobras need to show marked improvement.
Senior players like Duminy, Ian Harvey and Andrew Puttick are the names everybody is suggesting should pull up their socks, but coach Shukri Conrad will be hoping for anybody to spark and get the Cobras' engine running.
Last season the Cape side finished fifth in the round-robin phase of the Pro20, so even a semifinal place this time around would be seen as major progress.
In 2005 current skipper Thami Tsolekile fared best with the bat, with an average of 44.66, but it is perhaps hitherto off-form Australian Harvey, who has a couple of centuries to his credit in the short format, who could provide the impetus.
Cobras squad:
Ian Harvey, Andrew Puttick, JP Duminy, Renier Munnik, Henry Davids, Dominic Telo, Rory Kleinveldt, Thami Tsolekile (captain), Paul Adams, Wallace Albertyn, Charl Willoughby, Alan Dawson, Quinton Friend, Vernon Philander
Start: 6pm
Tickets: Adults: seat R40; grass R30; Children 16 & under: seat R20; grass: R15 (from Computicket on 083 915 8000 or 011-340 8000 or Newlands ticket office)
- Martin van Jaarsveld blazed a half-century to lead the Titans to a convincing win over the Dolphins in the opening match of the Pro20 competition in Durban last night.
Van Jaarsveld scored 57 off 44 balls to guide the Titans, who won the toss and chose to bat, to their challenging total of 179/7.
The Dolphins replied with 126/5 in 15.1 overs before a storm ended play and handed the visitors victory by nine runs, on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
The Dolphins' fate was writ large when Brendon Reddy struck twice in the fifth over to dismiss openers Kyle Smit and Hashim Amla. Ethy Mbhalati then stubbed out Jon Kent and Robbie Frylink as the home team crashed to 62/4.