It was never meant to be this way. Not a complete muddle over selection after two years of planning that was meant to culminate with England peaking on the big day in Brisbane.
Plan A, as outlined by Chris Silverwood and Joe Root on England's tour of New Zealand late in 2019, was telling their medical staff to ensure Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Olly Stone were at their fittest to fight Australian fire with fire come day one at the Gabba.
When serious injuries saw England rip it up and start again – and Root could have contributed by over-bowling both Archer and Stone in Test cricket – Plan B was replicating the last English Ashes winning side in Australia by 'bowling dry' with an all-seam attack.
England inexplicably left out Stuart Broad (L) and Jimmy Anderson (R) for the first Ashes Test in Brisbane - who were best equipped to take advantage of conditions
Australia bowled England out for 147 as Joe Root's outfit collapsed with the bat on day one
Yet somehow, when that big day dawned in conditions that were made for the skills this attack have in abundance, England inexplicably left out the two bowlers best equipped to take advantage of them in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.
And out of nowhere came an English finger spinner England had been ignoring all summer in readiness for Australia in Jack Leach, a move that undoubtedly contributed to what was exposed as the wrong decision at the toss in batting first.
It is hard enough for England to win in Australia without a succession of own goals that culminated in the faith shown to a bowler in Leach who, realistically, can have no greater impact on this first Test than Root's off-spin.
That is not to decry the selection of Ollie Robinson whose meteoric rise in this England side saw him as the first name on the bowling team-sheet.
Nor the inclusion of the one remaining bowler of real pace left in Wood or choosing a man who has become so much more than an English-type seamer in Chris Woakes.
It is just that one of the big two had to be picked alongside them in place of the admittedly unlucky Leach, who does not offer the control a spinner of the calibre of Graeme Swann used to bring in the first innings nor the potency he provided in the second.
Chris Silverwood (R) and Joe Root (L) had to go for Plan B but then left out all-seam attack stars
That is, of course, if Anderson and Broad truly are fit and were
