Mitch Marsh's reign as Australia's first-choice Test allrounder has come to a halt after Marcus Stoinis was called into the extended squad for the historic match against Sri Lanka in Canberra.
Named a co vice-captain alongside Josh Hazlewood at the start of the summer, Marsh was picked for just one Test at home this season, in Melbourne where he failed to make a double-figure score or take a wicket, and was dropped for the Sri Lankan series.
He then missed the first match in Australia's one-day series against India through illness, before being overlooked for the following two games and returning for the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash last week.
The selection of Stoinis in Australia's Test squad marks a significant changing of the guard, given Australia hasn't picked a genuine allrounder outside of Marsh since fellow West Australian Hilton Cartwright in January 2017.
Justin Langer has gone away from the previous preference to pick allrounders, with Australia playing with six batsmen and four bowlers in most Tests this summer.
"There aren't too many teams around the world that have that luxury (of a genuine allrounder)," Langer said prior to Stoinis' call-up.
"They've got to be picked as a batter who bowls a bit or picked as a bowler (who bats).
"You've got to be able to be picked on one of the disciplines alone and that's a great challenge for all of the all-rounders in the country."
Stoinis has impressed in his 24 one-day games for Australia and hit half-centuries and took three wickets in each of his past two BBL matches for the Melbourne Stars.
He averages 33.61 in first-class cricket - similar to Marsh's 31.63 - but has a significantly lesser record with the ball with 52 wickets at 42.36 compared to Marsh's 137 at 32.29.
Realistically he has been called into the squad as a potential fifth bowling option, likely only to play if selectors feel the Canberra pitch is a docile batter-friendly one.
If that was the case the he could come in for Joe Burns or even Kurtis Patterson, however, both only entered the Test team for the Gabba and were victims to the pink-ball under lights.
If Burns was to make way Usman Khawaja could move to the top of the order, although he is out of form and averaging just 26.12 this home summer.
Australia's selectors have already showed they aren't afraid to bring in a player from outside the initial squad, doing so with Patterson and Jhye Richardson for the Gabba Test win over Sri Lanka.
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