As coy as England were leading into this first Ashes Test, announcing a 12-man squad featuring Shoaib Bashir, they confirmed at the toss what everyone, including Australia, knew. They were going all in on pace.
This, of course, was not a decision made overnight, for a deck at the Optus Stadium pegged as the quickest they would grace over these five Tests. Nor was it made in the last week after Mark Wood was passed fit.
Technically, they have been all in since the start of the 2024 summer, when Rob Key - and we're paraphrasing here - said relying on traditional English seamers was hot trash in overseas conditions, and changed needed to come. That change was forcing James Anderson into retirement. But even the axing of a great only confirmed the concept.
Because deep down, not even the most optimistic mind within the ECB would have believed a day like this would come, and certainly not in this manner. When England, with the fastest attack on show, pushed Australia back, not just deep into their creases - the home batters were camped on the back foot for 66% of the deliveries faced so far - but behind a game they were running. On a day where 19 wickets fell, England's batters served up arguably their most dispiriting batting performance of the Bazball era when it mattered most and still ended up 49 runs ahead at stumps.
Had Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood been on the park, that buffer would have been a deficit. Mitchell Starc's brilliant seven-for was set against little help from those around him.
On the other side of the fence was a specialist foursome of Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Wood and Brydon Carse, dovetailing so well they returned to the away dressing room knackered but on cloud nine, after Stokes led them off in a hurry, sheepish after profiting from their hard work to nab the final five wickets. Remarkably, as the slowest of the five, Stokes' top speed was still above 85mph/137mph.
It was only Archer and Carse who took wickets. The former knocking debutant Jake Weatherald off his feet with a 92mph/148kph inswinger second ball of Australia's innings, and then eliciting a satisfying "under-elbow" from Marnus Labuschagne. The latter turning Steve Smith inside out - feet in Athens, hands in America - before ripping out Usman Khawaja with a bouncer that sent the left-hander back early after a delayed entrance.
Atkinson, though, was impressively sharp, tying down his own end while jagging the ball every which way. Three maidens to start a four-over opening spell maintained the pressure Archer had created, before smothering the usually rampant Travis Head, Atkinson responsible for 14 of the 24 dots Head was forced to eat. Stokes saw Head off - attempting to fashion a leg-side boundary - then bagged Cameron Green, who Atkinson should have had earlier with a return catch. That drop was followed, five balls later, by a hellacious Wood bouncer that clocked Green on the jaw.
As Archer, Carse, Atkinson and Wood walked off, a thought crossed their mind - had they ever been involved in a better bowling performance? Certainly not as individuals as part of a cartel. And definitely not together.
Despite collaborating on England's famous World Cup win in 2019, this is only the second Test match Archer and Wood have played together. Even Atkinson and Carse have now featured together in five, having both debuted in 2024, though it is a quirk of their circumstances around fitness that all have been overseas. And yet, you'd be forgiven for thinking they were all thick as thieves, as familiar with each other's games as Australia's legendary trio.
Even Stokes, who revved up his bowlers for the mini-sessioin before tea. After 10 overs, Australia went into the interval on 15 for 1.
"At the half-way mark Stokesy kept it quite simple," Carse said. "He said we've got 50 minutes before tea, and I thought the way that Gus and Jofra started was phenomenal and we carried that into the [evening] session. I thought we were quite relentless as a group of seamers, and Ben rotated us well.
"I think when you have Mark Wood and Jofra Archer in your line-up they're always nice bowlers to have. There was pace and bounce throughout the day, especially when the ball was still slightly new.
"Our group of bowlers, we bounce off each other. We all have slightly different attributes, and keeping it relatively simple, I think that's stood us in good stead today."
None of this is coincidence, of course. Stokes, Key and head coach Brendon McCullum are suckers for the sharp stuff, and the ECB depth chart of quicks has never been longer or more informed. Carse himself was the beneficiary of a new approach to opt for players on an "attributes over averages" basis. Following his 2 for 45, a Test average of 29.71 is over three points lower than his competitive first-class average for Durham (32.82).
They have invested heavily, too, particularly in Archer and Wood, both pouring money into their recovery from a number of potentially career-ending injuries and to keep them sweet enough to not need nectars from the global T20 circuit.
It is a luxury Australia also flex with Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc. Just last month, for instance, Cummins rejected a near $10 million a year offer to go all-in on franchise cricket.
Among all this, it is worth remembering Test matches are not won on the first day, and definitely not Ashes series. But England should allow themselves a moment of joy.
Having come to Australia and been comprehensively outgunned so often, day one showed they might finally be equipped with heavy artillery.