Australia are set to take a leap into the unknown, with Mitch Marsh's men preparing to enter a World Cup with the least Test players in the nation's history.
Marsh's side begin their Twenty20 World Cup campaign on Wednesday night (AEDT) against Ireland in Colombo.
Since the days of Mark Taylor being dropped from the ODI side in 1997, Australia have gradually moved towards split squads for red- and white-ball matches.
But never will that been more clear than this month in India and Sri Lanka.
Australia go into a World Cup without at least one of Mitchell Starc (retired), Josh Hazlewood or Pat Cummins (both injured) for the first time since 2011.
Steve Smith has been controversially overlooked, while Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon have long been out of the first-choice T20 side.
It means that of Australia's 14-man squad for this month's tournament, just Travis Head and Cameron Green played in the Test team's recent Ashes success.
That is a far cry from the 10 members of the Test side that won the ODI World Cup in 2023, or even the six red-ball players who featured in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Australia are ranked No.2 in the world in T20 cricket, but the absences of Hazlewood and Cummins leaves an inexperienced pace attack of Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshuis and Xavier Bartlett.
Plenty of experience does still remain elsewhere, with the likes of Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa.
"We've had 18 to 24 months of cricket together where the big three (quicks) haven't been playing and have had big workloads in the Test arena," Ellis said this week.
"I actually think (as a pace attack) we work together really, really well.
"We've all got different skill-sets and can gel together on the night in different phases of the game."
"We're a group that is a mixture of some older heads and younger heads, but we've spent a lot of time together.
"There is an element of getting back together again."
Australia's lead-in to the tournament has been far from ideal, trounced three times by Pakistan while missing several members of their World Cup squad.
A washed-out warm-up game against the Netherlands followed, before a long wait until Wednesday's clash with Ireland.
Australia have Oman, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Sri Lanka in their group, with the top two progressing to the Super-Eight stage.
With Australia last to play their tournament opener, Ellis insists there is a silver lining to the wait, with a chance to study conditions in both India and Sri Lanka.
"It's definitely a benefit, you get to watch the games going in, see what the conditions are like and go from there," he said.
"(We can see) the difference between some in India and some in Sri Lanka ... the times of day.
"But there is also a level of excitement as a cricket fan, just watching the start of a World Cup."
