Try this 'command' of the plugin libary, it will do the trick.
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$("#skills li").click(function(){
id = $(this).attr('id');
imgIndexToJump = id.substr(1); //extracting number as index from id
imgIndexToJump = parseInt(imgIndexToJump, 10);
$('.slideshow').cycle('goto', imgIndexToJump);
});
});
</script>
assign ids to ur list in skills like this and it will work.
<ul id="skills">
<li id="a0">
a1-data
</li>
<li id="a2">
a1-data
</li>
</ul>