Australia faced a batting squeeze ahead of the first Test in Sri Lanka and it ultimately cost young gun Sam Konstas his spot in the Test team.
Josh Inglis was brought in for his debut, and pushed regular No.5 Travis Head to the top of the batting order.
On a road in Galle, Head blasted a quickfire 57 before his veteran teammates Usman Khawaja (147 not out) and Steve Smith (104 not out) made hay on a fruitful day one for the Aussies.
In fact the only Australian batter who failed to take advantage of the conditions was No.3 enigma Marnus Labuschagne.
And it's a storyline that has become far too common for the man who once averaged above 70 in Test cricket.
His regression to the mean has been more of a regression to the sub-optimal.
Marnus Labuschagne walks off after he was dismissed at Galle. Getty
Critics have for a long time claimed Labuschagne is no longer a genuine threat against quality Test cricket bowling.
Against India over five matches Down Under he averaged only 25.77 from five matches, with a high score of 72.
His one impressive innings, really, came against the pink ball in Adelaide when he and Nathan McSweeney managed to see off Jasprit Bumrah under lights to keep the Aussies in a winning position.
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He hasn't averaged above 42 in a Test series since the West Indies visited for two matches in late 2022 – and when they were back last summer, he averaged 6.33 in four digs.
That once-envious batting average has slowly decreased and now sits at 47.23 – which, to be fair, still puts him in elite company.
Once you dig a little deeper you'll find a cricketer who enjoyed a few boom years, but has barely fired a shot in recent times.
Across the first 30 Test matches of his career, Labuschagne averaged 60.82 and hit 10 centuries.
In the 26 matches since, he has averaged 30.81 and scored only one hundred.
His second-innings 111 in Manchester during the 2023 Ashes is his sole triple figure score since that 2022 series against the Windies.
Opponents have found it far too easy to exploit his outside edge, and it was again the case on day one in Galle.
Crafty Sri Lanka leggie Jeffrey Vandersay bowled a superb over to have Labuschagne on edge, before eventually nicking him off for 20 off 50 balls.
Aussie cricket icon Ricky Ponting noted Labuschagne "had to work a fair bit harder for his 20", given the quality spin bowling coming his way.
Labuschagne has always struggled to make runs away from home.
He averages 55.98 in Australia, while only 37.86 away. In Asia his average drops to 34.94.
If the Aussie selectors are prepared to play around with the batting line-up during this series they could do a lot worse than sidelining Labuschagne for the second match, and potentially bringing Konstas back into the team.
Smith can easily be elevated to No.3, and Australia now has the likes of Konstas, Inglis, and McSweeney ready to slot into the side wherever asked.
With a World Test Championship final against South Africa coming up, and then a home Ashes series next summer, the team can no longer afford to carry the Queenslander.