Phillip Hughes' axing from the Test side is a case of one golden boy being replaced by another.
The decision to dump Hughes after three Test failures is as much about him as it is the player who has taken his place in the side - Shane Watson.
Australia coach Tim Nielsen, whose counsel is well respected by selectors, stressed on Sunday that picking teams was not merely about stats and figures.
"If that was the case, we'll read the paper tomorrow and pick the team from that," he said.
Obviously, Hughes' 415 runs at 69.16 was outweighed by his inability to counter an unusually efficient England attack.
Entering this Test, Watson averaged 19.76 with the bat and 35.57 with the ball, barely passable for a No.8 let alone a player aspiring to bat at the top of the order.
But he made a promising start to his career as a Test opener, making an unbeaten 62 at Edgbaston on Thursday night.
Although an accomplished one-day opener, Watson flopped spectacularly in that role for Queensland at the start of the 2007-08 summer, making four ducks and just 28 runs from six innings.
Selectors, however, have been infatuated with Watson ever since they thrust him into the international spotlight in just his second season of first-class cricket.
Not even a litany of injuries has tempered that enthusiasm. In fact, it's been a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder.
As soon as Watson becomes available for selection, selectors drop what they're doing - in this case the Phillip Hughes Project - and shoehorn the all-rounder back into the team.
This is as much about what Watson could do rather than what he has done.
Watson is far from a crash-and-bash style batsman. He is a technically correct player capable of cultivating an innings.
This will not stop the wolves from questioning the touring party chosen by Andrew Hilditch and his men, who refused to pick a specialist reserve opener.
Perhaps they were left light-headed by the dizzying heights reached riding the crest of Hughes' form in South Africa they forgot that what comes up must come down.
Maybe they didn't believe he would crash back to earth in England.
After all, if Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini could not expose Hughes' unorthodox technique then what hope did an England attack led by a battered Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson?
Selectors will argue they were not complacent and point to names such as Watson, Marcus North and Michael Hussey, who was an opener until being reincarnated upon entering the Test cricket.
Hughes is only 20 and will not be short of opportunities to come back.
Even the great Don Bradman was dropped early in his Test career.
But first Hughes will have to find a method of playing the short ball.
He will be tested yet again should he break his way back into the side this series. If not, his next examination will be given by his countrymen in the Sheffield Shield.
Should he pass with flying colours, how long he will stay in the wilderness could be governed by how well Watson grasps his latest opportunity.