Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu, if they were speaking in their native tongues, would have gone awfully close to muttering the Sinhalese equivalent of a profanity when they heard about the resurgence of Brett Lee.
Sri Lanka's opening batsmen have nightmarish memories of the Australian speedster from their last two games against him. Both times were at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa and both times, Lee gave them a pounding.
Firstly, he broke Jayasuriya's left thumb, badly bruised his forearm and shattered his confidence against the rising delivery in a Super Sixes match at Centurion.
Hitting the high 150km/h range, Lee took 3-36 from eight ferocious overs as well as sending a clearly shaken Jayasuriya to hospital for x-rays. His three wickets came in nine balls and Australia won by 96 runs.
Then, in the pressure-cooker of the Cup semi-final at Port Elizabeth, and with Australia defending a modest 212, Lee ripped through Atapattu with a screaming yorker timed at 160.1km/h on his way to a return of 3-52 from ten overs.
Jayasuriya, wearing an arm guard, elbow guard, chest guard, helmet, every conceivable piece of protective equipment, was clearly uncomfortable against Lee before Glenn McGrath picked him up cheaply at the other end.
Australia prevailed by 48 runs, and went on to win the Cup.
"The Atapattu ball, it's definitely still up there with with the most satisfying I've ever bowled," Lee said today.
"There was good pace, it went straight through him, it knocked the off stump out of the ground, it was an important wicket at a big time of the game ... it's definitely one I can look back on and feel good about.
"It's good to know I've had success against both those guys because they're world class players and they're such important players for their team, but the whole Sri Lankan top order is full of quality players.
"They've had success against us, too."
Just before the World Cup, Jayasuriya and Atapattu had shown what damage they could do when allowed to make a start, clobbering 122 and 101 respectively against Australia at the SCG as Sri Lanka reached an unbeatable 343.
Australia's tour of Sri Lanka comprises five one-dayers, beginning on February 20 at Dambulla Stadium, before a three-Test series which will be Ricky Ponting's first as Test captain.
The Sri Lankans will provide tough opposition.
They've won 45 out of their last 55 limited overs matches on their own spin-friendly soil, and 11 of their last 15 Tests at home.
Sri Lanka's win-loss ratio for home one-dayers is 81 per cent compared to Ponting's overall success rate of 84 per cent, increasing the importance of Lee ripping into Jayasuriya, Atapattu and the rest of the top order before they get comfortable.
He seemed in danger of being dropped a month ago.