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Jayawardene inspects the Barbados pitch.
By David Clough, PA Sport, Bridgetown
Mahela Jayawardene is promising the real Sri Lanka will turn up to try to win the World Cup at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.
Sir Lanka will have to overturn the form book and significant odds to hand Australia their first World Cup defeat in 29 matches on the biggest stage.
But captain Jayawardene is confident that if his team stick to their own successful formula they have it in them to prevent Australia winning the cup for an unprecedented third successive time.
"The most important thing for us is to play the brand of cricket we've been playing," he said.
"That's the best way to beat any side in the world - because if you go out of your zone and try to do something different you could end up in trouble."
Jayawardene reports Sri Lanka have learned the errors of their own ways - from their Super Eight defeat against Australia in Grenada - and those of South Africa, who were no match for the world champions in a one-sided semi-final in St Lucia this week.
In the South Africans' case, according to Jayawardene, the mistake was to divert from a gameplan which had previously served them well.
That resulted in them slipping to a debilitating 27 for five inside 10 overs, a situation from which there unsurprisingly proved to be no recovery.
"We probably saw a lot in the way the South Africans went about things in the semi-finals," he said.
"The way they went about it - obviously I don't know what kind of plan they had - wasn't their game, the way they play.
"They didn't play to their potential or their gameplan. They changed something, and it didn't work for them.
"We've been successful doing what we know best - and we'll definitely be doing that again."
Australia's run of World Cup success has left many concluding they are simply invincible - but Jayawardene cannot afford to believe anything of the sort.
"They haven't been pushed to the ropes yet. But this is a big match, a final - anything can happen," he insisted.
"We'll be giving it our best shot to see whether we can crack them.
"They're a good side, we all know that. But they're human - and over 100 overs, people will make mistakes. We just need to capitalise on that.
"You can have big-name players and lots of guys with big numbers, but it's all about how you turn up on the day to go out there and perform.
"We will definitely turn up."
Jayawardene is satisfied too that Sri Lanka will not forfeit any of the belief they need because of that seven-wicket defeat against Ricky Ponting and Co two weeks ago.
"To play them, you need to be very competitive from the very first ball," he said.
"They really do come hard at you in the first hour or so, whether you bat or bowl.
"You have to be prepared for that, especially in a final. I am sure we are quite capable of handling it."
Sri Lanka, who controversially fielded a team missing its three best bowlers the last time they played Australia, patently did not handle the occasion then.
"We made a lot of mistakes in that game, and you can't do that against Australia," said the captain.
"But I think we've learned our lesson."
Many more tutorials have gone into making Jayawardene's team the force they are - and he acknowledges the major part played by coach Tom Moody over the past two years.
Former Australia Cup-winner Moody has changed the way Sri Lankans prepare and hone their talents.
"Tom has been brilliant for us. As a group, we've always had the talent - but he has brought something different to the table," said Jayawardene.
"He's brought a toughness and has made sure we push ourselves; we all had the talent but never expected to push ourselves this far.
"He has a lot of experience as a World Cup winner, who knows how important it is to be tough mentally going into a game like this.
"A lot of our guys have improved a lot, and Tom has made a big difference."
Sri Lanka may be tempted to make one change from the team which beat New Zealand in Tuesday's semi-final, with bowling all-rounder Farveez Maharoof in contention to replace Dilhara Fernando - who was called for several no-balls and warned for running on the pitch at Sabina Park.
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