Colombo (Sri Lanka) - It has taken four matches and 341.4 overs to produce the sort of world class brand name which the sponsors of the Aiwa Cup series had been hoping for since the rain splattered opening shots in Galle's international stadium a week ago.

Perhaps the term 'international' is a little grandiose, as had been the label of this three-cornered LOI tournament involving present and past World Cup champions Australia and Sri Lanka and India, title-holders 16 years ago. So far their form has been as down at heel as you can expect from a side still suffering the after affects of being all but eliminated before they began their futile World Cup Super Sixes quest in England back in June.

Australia and Sri Lanka, however, finally brushed off the tardy image of what had been a decidedly one-sided contest when exuberant local youth took on the cool, professional visiting veterans at Premadasa Stadium on Thursday and revived the faith of a nation in their heroes. With a side which has an average age of about 25 and four players who can be classed as seasoned players in Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Muthiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka were far from awed.

Charmara Silva, a fresh faced 20-year-old, from up country and one of those flown back from England where he had been touring with the Sri Lanka A team cut a decidedly defiant figure as did Russel Arnold, another A team member brought in as replacements for Avishka Gunawardena and Nuwan Zoysa. The selectors decision to rest a fast bowler for a batsman was always going to be a calculated risk, and Suresh Perera would be the first to admit he has some way to jog before he can be considered a specialist opening bowler at this level. He was put through the thresher as well.

Yet taking the aggressive mobility of their fielding and Jayasuriya's placements into account, the support the Lanka bowlers received was noticeable in the way Australia were restricted (perhaps frustrated is a better description) to a total of 241 for nine when a 300 plus total did not, at one stage, seem out of reach. And as can happen in the shorter game, Sri Lanka's reply, despite three needless run outs, was imposing enough. Forget the defeat by 27 runs: that is just a statistic which will soon be lost in the plethora of the LOIs Sri Lanka still have to play this season. It was the way they tackled the mountain which counted, and without the big names.

Then again, it must be remembered Sri Lanka did much to revolutionise the approach to the limited over game with their coach, Dav Whatmore, one of the chief architects and Jayasuriya the senior engineer. Little wonder Whatmore wanted this little master blaster to tackle the captaincy role. There can be no doubt that India's captain Sachin Tendulkar, watching the game on TV in the comfort of the team room, took careful note of the way the game was played, and how the Australian bowlers conceded an extra 2.2overs to the 1.2 overs by the Lankans: that is six balls and many LOIs have been won and lost through such carelessness in direction and footfaulting.

Tendulkar views tomorrow's match against Australia as their 'key' game in the series: a must win outing and positive thinking is likely to be very much a part of his team meeting vision as they mull over strategies, tactics and in the general pre-match think tank. The India exuded confidence despite a lack of form and runs from himself, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid and the inability of the bowlers to do the job of dismissing sides.

The bowlers have taken five wickets in two games and the way they dished it up they can count themselves lucky to get so many. There was more grass left on the pitch for Wednesday's match than we had seen in Galle and Thursday's game at Premadasa.

True to LOIs tactics these days final team announcements will be made shortly before the toss. India may make a change or two: Sarbeswar Mohanty has yet to be given a game and Ramesh cannot do any worse than some of those already tried. Considering the weather variations you get in this part of the world and that it is a day game, pitch conditions can alter dramatically, as they did on the opening day in Galle.

``We'll be looking for an improvement in form,'' was his modest comment after a lengthy practice at the Sinhalese Sports Club, followed by the more obvious, ``Australia are always hard to beat and have been playing well in this tournament. I am confident, though we have the players who can match them and win.

``Certainly losing to Australia makes it a pressure game against Sri Lanka on Sunday, and as it will come down to run rate we need to take a hard look at where are our weak areas,'' he added.

The Australians, if you listen to their skipper Steve Waugh, are not so much oozing with confidence as taking each game as it comes. There had been a thought that Shane Warne was going to be rested in the game against Sri Lanka on Thursday as he is still being bothered by the shoulder injury. So far he has taken the hostile attitude of the crowd with a big grin and concentrated on his bowling. Always competitive he was quick to acknowledge Silva's batting efforts on Thursday and it was a pity there was no big replay screen for the big crowd to see his brief applause.