The trouble is that such scenarios are extremely rare. It seldom happened during the career of Shane Watson, and we’d hate to be hanging by our thumbs waiting for Mitch Marsh to produce a world-class performance, especially with the bat.

But even if it happens, perhaps we need to look at percentages. How often will it happen? There’s a certain romance in having an all-rounder in the national side, but so often, they’ve taken up good batting space. The great sides under Taylor and Waugh simply had a powerful top-seven and insisted that the tail-end contribute, or at least not capitulate meekly. This culture even rubbed off on Glenn McGrath, who refused to accept his leporine status with the bat.

The presence of a freak like Gilchrist helped, because, even at seven, he was one of the world’s best batsmen. That’s true. It removed the need to look for a batting/bowling all-rounder. But they had no need to desperately seek the mythical comprehensive cricketer as long as they has strong batting down to seven, followed by men like Warne, Gillespie or Lee hitting lustily or defending stoutly when required.  

How many of these legendary game-changers have really existed in cricket history? The West Indies haven’t really found another Sobers. Botham, Imran, Hadlee, Dev, Miller, Procter, Kallis. You might be able to name ten more. But even amongst those giants of the game, not many would have made their national team purely as a batsman or as a bowler. Only the very best were top-tier at both.

This is not to imply Mitch Marsh will never fulfil his considerable potential. But right now, during this period of transition, Australia needs reliable batting.