Shane Watson endured one of New South Wales' worst defeats in nearly 120 years in the Sheffield Shield, but the Australian all-rounder showed promise in his long-awaited comeback.
Watson finally returned to first-class cricket from hamstring and calf injuries which had kept him out since Australia's tour of South Africa in the Shield game against Western Australia at the WACA Ground, but it wasn't enough for the Blues to avoid an outright loss by an innings and 323 runs.
Despite his team's mauling, the dual Allan Border Medallist made impressive starts in his two stints at the crease before falling for 21 in the first innings and 31 in the second.
The 30-year-old had his workload with the ball limited to three four-over spells as WA smashed 3-560, thanks to Liam Davis' triple century, but bowled accurately at less than full pace to take 1-16.
NSW captain Stephen O'Keefe said Watson had pulled up well from his first game back, which came in front of National Selection Panel chairman John Inverarity.
"His body, from all reports, is pulling up well and that's a good thing for New South Wales cricket and Australian cricket," he said.
"He certainly was the pick of the bowlers, he bowled beautifully."
"But I didn't want to bowl him into the ground. It was his first game back and we've got to respect that."
"There's no point pushing him, he's got a big career ahead of him and a long summer if he gets picked to go to the Caribbean, which we all expect. It was good to see him get through 12 overs for the match."
There were no such positives for wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who made a pair of ducks in the match in a performance which did little to ease the pressure on his spot in the Test team, but he was far from the only struggler in NSW's biggest innings defeat since 1926-27.
O'Keefe was left devastated after a performance which saw his team - a group including seven Test players who have played a combined 123 five-day matches for Australia - bowled out for scores of 91 and 146.
"It's a humbling defeat. Sitting in those sheds was probably the most hollow feeling I've had as part of the New South Wales cricket team," O'Keefe said.
"It's obviously got nothing to do with skill because we've seen all these guys perform on the bigger stage."
"It's going to be forever tattooed to our minds and it's going to make us hungry I think from now on ... we've got to learn from this."
The Blues are unable to climb out of the bottom two even if they win their last two games against Queensland and Victoria.