For many, Sunday is meant to be a day of rest. For Mitchell Starc and Usman Khawaja, it was a day of silencing.
These are two experienced heads that had, prior to Sunday, failed to live up to their billing.
So much so, that they were seriously walking on thin ice ahead of a jampacked 2019 schedule that includes a World Cup and Ashes series, both to be held in the UK.
Maybe it was easier to back them both for the Canberra Test against Sri Lanka, rather than give them a spell. Selectors clenched. Their time was coming. They weren't far away.
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Far from their best, they haven't been terrible - but in a summer where India won their first ever Test series on Australian soil, big names had to be held accountable.
Regardless, this summer prior to the Canberra match, their numbers weren't flash. In the four India Tests and last week's day-nighter against Sri Lanka at the Gabba, Starc had 15 wickets at 36.40, while Khawaja had 209 runs at 26.12.
It took longer than expected, but Starc's 5/54 at Manuka Oval broke the shackles on a barren run that hadn't seen him raise the ball in celebration since the first Test against South Africa in Durban, some 11 months ago.
Just hours later, Khawaja cut and sliced his way to an unbeaten 101 to bring up Test ton No. eight, his first since that remarkable match-saving effort against Pakistan in Dubai in October.
Since that Dubai masterclass - and a knee injury sustained in the following match in Abu Dhabi - the left-hander's output had been below-par. Whispers grew to screams when Khawaja slashed out for a first-innings duck on Friday, prompting Darren Lehmann to suggest Khawaja needs time in the domestic fold to sharpen up or risk losing his starting spot for the Ashes.
Prior to the Sri Lanka series, Australia coach Justin Langer said Khawaja had "admitted he's been frustrated".
"He's had some good starts against the white ball and Test cricket [but hasn't converted them]," Langer said.
"I can't help but think, we didn't rush him back, but he had that knee injury after the UAE and he's just finding his feet again.
"We need him to stand up, he knows that. He's our most senior batsman.
"He's playing well ... he just needs, and we need, him to turn some of those starts into great hundreds for us."
Criticism of Starc has been widespread from the start of the summer, much of it by Shane Warne, and has been amplified to the point where it reached Starc himself - and he responded in kind.
Prior to the day's play, Starc acknowledged that no one's spot is safe, and he - like everyone else - has to perform to retain his place.
"I know I haven't been at my best, I don't need to listen to all the outside noise to know that," he told cricket.com.au on Sunday morning.
"I've played enough cricket now to know when I'm at my best and when I'm not.
"The change room has been great, not just with myself but for everyone throughout the summer."
Here's a dismissal you don't see every day! 😳#AUSvSL | @bet365_aus pic.twitter.com/bJJpWUqhKh
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 3, 2019
Prior to the Canberra match, former fast bowler Geoff Lawson was optimistic about Starc's potential, despite the 29-year-old's ongoing rough trot.
"In his Test career, he's never, ever been a bowler who's bowled tight line and length. That's not his go," Lawson said on Big Sports Breakfast.
"We know he can bowl 150, he did a lot of 145 in Brisbane. We need him to bowl fast, we don't need him to bowl line and length. We've got other bowlers to do that.
"His job is slightly different to the other guys. He's your classic shock bowler as opposed to your stock bowler.
"He's not at his best. He's having a dip in form, which a lot of people do, but as the strike bowler, he certainly has that potential.
"You can't leave him out of the side and put in a medium pacer. You've got to keep bowling your strike bowlers at this level."
