Australia's blueprint to blunt the influence of Sri Lanka's explosive opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya in today's opening one-day final is as simple as it is brutal.
Led by Brett Lee, the Australian attack will be hell-bent on bowling fast, straight and - as much as is permitted - at the head and shoulders of the 36-year-old left-hander.
As Jayasuriya showed last month when his blazing 114 from 96 balls powered Sri Lanka to a breakthrough win over Australia in Sydney, the magnitude of his contribution effectively dictates whether his team wins or loses.
And it is the damage he inflicts inside the first 20 overs of an innings - a time when the new "power play" fielding restrictions generally remain in place - that strikes fear into the hearts of opposition attacks.
Jayasuriya, one of four batsmen to have scored more than 10,000 one-day international runs, was the main talking point at a meeting of Australia's bowlers before today's day-night final at Adelaide Oval.
A quietly spoken, self-effacing man from similarly humble origins of the fishing village of Matara on Sri Lanka's south coast, Jayasuriya is widely credited for changing the manner in which opening batsmen attack the start of a one-day innings.
While his hitting at the 1996 World Cup is credited with instigating that shift, Jayasuriya himself identifies an innings he played at Adelaide Oval a decade ago as the most significant in his transformation from middle-order hopeful to master blaster.
That was when he was elevated to the top of the order in a Test match because of an injury to regular opener Roshan Mahanama, and he clubbed 112 in his team's defeat at the hands of the Mark Taylor-led Australians.
Watching Jayasuriya wielding his lightweight bat with devastating power was Ricky Ponting, playing in just his third Test.
"He (Jayasuriya) is a class player and a player who has done well against us on a couple of occasions before in games at the SCG," Ponting said yesterday.
"This wicket (in Adelaide) is similar to that so we have to make sure we stick to our plans for long periods of time against him. With Adelaide Oval the way it is with the long, straight boundaries, you have to be making players hit you down the ground.
"So we have to be bowling pretty straight, and using some changes of pace during the course of the innings. And I think Sanath can expect his fair share of short stuff as well."
The Australians are of the belief that for all his daredevil shot-making, Jayasuriya remains susceptible against fast, bouncing deliveries aimed at his body.
Twice in recent times - once against all-rounder Brendon Julian in Perth in 1999 and more famously against Lee during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa - Jayasuriya had his arm broken when fending at short-pitched bowling against the Australians.
But to drop short to the accomplished cutter remains a strategy fraught with danger.
Should Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark be slightly off line and allow the powerfully built opener a free swing at steepling deliveries, it is more than likely they will clear the short Adelaide Oval boundaries.
"Jayasuriya at the top is a matchwinner, we have to make sure we have clear plans bowling at him," Lee said yesterday.
"When he went off in Sydney last month, it was one of those days when he just clicked.
"We probably didn't bowl our right length, and length is definitely the key out here.
"And on these grounds where it's short boundaries square of the wicket, if it beats the in-field then it's four. Or six."
Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody has been at pains to point out that Jayasuriya, who stood down as captain in 2003 and has recently struggled to regain his Test place, is only one of his team's genuine batting talents.
But he warned the Australians they risked death by a thousand lofted square cuts if they went ahead with plans to target his veteran with the permitted maximum of short-pitched bowling.
"No surprise, it's been the same all series," Moody said yesterday when asked about the Australians' ploy.
"I know that teams in the past have targeted that area with Sanath, and there's times that he may have felt uncomfortable.
"But there are times that he's got runs very quickly, so if that's the plan they're going with then with short boundaries square of the wicket we'll see who comes off best."
Moody said Sri Lanka would finalise its team for the first of the best-of-three finals matches later today because of fitness concerns lingering over seamers Nuwan Kulasekera and Ruchira Perera.
- ANDREW RAMSEY