James Sutherland forecast on the morning after Australia's crippling loss to South Africa in Hobart that it would be "a different group of players that gather for the next Test match".
The CEO doesn't sit on the selection panel but he wasn't wrong. There will be half a dozen new faces in the squad that assembles in Adelaide, with five members of the party from last week gone.
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Sutherland: Significant fall from grace for Australia
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland says the national side's performances over the last three months have been a fall from grace and has put responsibility on the players.
The last two weeks have been dark times for Australian cricket and everyone from the captain, Steve Smith, to Sutherland himself hopes this will be a new dawn.
The flipside of the team's wretched run of five consecutive defeats is that there hasn't been such anticipation about the make-up of a Test squad in years. Even with the Australian team in the doldrums, at least people are still talking about it.
The immediate question that springs to mind is this: what if it all goes pear-shaped again with the pink ball under lights in Adelaide against a red-hot South African bowling attack that just got angrier with their lolly munching captain charged with ball tampering?
In that case, selectors will at least be able to claim they have picked a side for the future, with the three newcomers to the top six all aged 25 or under.
Of course, there are bigger issues at play in Australian cricket that demand resolution, from the weight of the schedule to the importance afforded to the Sheffield Shield, but for now the attention is on this new crop of players and what they might offer.
There will be arguments against what the post-Rod Marsh panel have come up with – there always is.
Joe Burns was told when recalled for Hobart that he would get a decent run at the opener's spot while Shaun Marsh was out injured. But due to the scope of Australia's demise there – the size of the defeat itself, and the context of it – all bets were off.
Western Australia's Cameron Bancroft, picked for the ultimately aborted tour of Bangladesh last year, had been fancied by selectors but couldn't justify a call-up with a lean start to the season.
Instead, they have plumped for Matt Renshaw, a 20-year-old Queenslander via England and New Zealand who, at the Gabba last Thursday, batted with the kind of resilience against South Australia that was sorely missing from the Australians in Hobart.
If his century there was perfectly timed, so was Peter Handscomb's double ton at the SCG. The 25-year-old is a well-organised and compact batsman who, after 61 first-class matches, appears to know his game well.
Then there is the powerful Nic Maddinson, 24, who shaded NSW teammate Kurtis Patterson as the other addition to what has been a troubled middle-order. The numbers pointed to Patterson – he averaged 52 last season compared to Maddinson's 30, and his career average of 42 is superior to Maddinson's 38. Maddinson is a more mature character and player than the one of his early 20s and has got the nod for his ability to go up the gears and take the game to the opposition.
Mark Waugh suggested last week that this Test squad would be picked as much on instinct and "gut" as stats, and Maddinson's inclusion is in this category.
Factors outside the scorebook have also contributed to Matthew Wade's recall at the expense of Peter Nevill, who can count himself very unlucky, a fall guy in many ways for the failures of those above him in the order. He's also been culled essentially because he's a nice guy. Wade is the antithesis of the quietly spoken and much-liked NSW gloveman, a prickly type who Australia hope will give them extra bark in the field. His two Test hundreds also counted firmly in his favour.
Wade's other contrast to Nevill, however, is his wicketkeeping. Nevill is the best in the country the Victorian, dropped three years ago, has had his skills with the gloves repeatedly questioned.
The selectors' rule book has been tossed out, though, after the events of Perth and Hobart. No longer is there considered the need for a seam-bowling all-rounder either.
This is indeed a new day.
Australia squad:
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Matt Renshaw, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade (12th man to be named).
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