England's terrible Ashes start after Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns the latest in long line of Gabba failures
The sound of the stumps rattling to dismiss Rory Burns was just what Australia wanted to hear from the first ball of the Ashes series. (Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris)
Start well. It's the most basic tenet of any sporting contest — not least the opening day of a five-Test series.
For Australia, on day one of the first Test at the Gabba, it could not have gone better.
After all the interrupted build-up, it took just the one Mitchell Starc yorker to send the Gabba into early delirium.
That late swinging ball, right on the money from Starc to send Rory Burns back to the sheds, would have sent a shudder through the entire England team.
"It's extremely important to be able to start well," former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson told ABC Sport.
"For Australia to start like that, with Starc having the pressure on him coming into the series ... it is really exciting and a good positive for Australia.
"You need that confidence but you don't want to get carried away with it."
Johnson said that for Starc, that ball was crucial for his confidence, but warned that he will need to refocus.
"I think you could see with that celebration, obviously first ball, you're going to get pretty excited, no matter who you are, but I could just sense with him that it was a relief but also a bit of an 'up yours' to all the doubters," he said.
"There was all that emotion in it but now he needs to switch back on to getting it right for him."
Terrible starts at the Gabba par for the course for England
You don't have to dig too deep into the archive to find an opening ball that evoked a similar roar from the Brisbane crowd — albeit under very different circumstances.
Steve Harmison's wayward opening ball set the scene for a long Ashes series for England in 2006/07. (Getty Images: Hamish Blair)
In 2006, Steve Harmison bowled one of the worst opening balls in Test history, sending his first delivery straight into the hands of Andrew Flintoff at second slip.
From that inauspicious start, England went on to comprehensively lose the series 5-0.
Johnson has some sympathy for that, telling ABC Sport that there are often plenty of nerves that accompany bowing the first ball of the Test.
"You pretty much just want to get it on the strip to be honest, that's the ultimate goal," he said.
"You're trying to bowl it straight. Get it up there nice and full to see if it swings, you want to try and get the batter to think about the first one at least.
"And then, get through that first over and get some rhythm.
"Standing out there during the anthems, you start to get that vibe, you start to get nervous, tighten up a little bit, that first ball is pretty scary sometimes, because you do tend to hold onto it a bit tighter, you don't want it to slip out of your hand, you don't want to slip over at the crease or do something silly."
Go back a few years further, to the Gabba in 2002. Things went badly for England before they even walked out to start play, with Nasser Hussain making the decision to bowl first.
Losing a frontline bowler on day one of the Ashes — like England's Simon Jones in 2002 — is not good for the team. (Getty Images: Tom Shaw)
Not only did Australia go on to make 492, but England lost Simon Jones to an anterior cruciate ligament injury later on that first day, ending his series.
Australia won that match by 384 runs, and the series 4-1.
Even as far back as the 1994/95 series, when Phil DeFreitas's opening ball to Michael Slater was dismissively creamed to the boundary for four as the Australian started the way he intended to go on, making a whopping 176.
Australia won that match by 184 runs and claimed the series 3-1.
Fast forward to today, and England lost a further three wickets, including skipper Joe Root for a nine-ball duck, limping to 4-59 at lunch.
The caveat is that England have recovered from bad starts before.
In the 2010/11 series, Andrew Strauss was caught off Ben Hilfenhaus's fourth ball as England were bowled out for 260 on the first day, with Peter Siddle claiming a birthday hat-trick.
England managed to cope with the early loss of skipper Andrew Strauss and a sub-par first-innings total at the Gabba in 2010. (Getty Images / PA: Gareth Copley)
Australia made 481 in their first innings, but then Alastair Cook began his extraordinary 428-ball vigil as England amassed 1-517 and went on to win the series 3-1.
Johnson said England needed to last out the day to have a chance.
"England ... they just need to bat through the day,"Johnson said.
"Get through the first session, but they have to break it down as much as possible.
"England will settle down. This is all just normal for a series.
"Australia, they just need to keep bowling those areas."
Being in the middle at the end of day one takes on significant statistical importance at the Gabba.
The team batting at the end of day one at the Gabba in 21 Ashes Tests has only been beaten twice.