The lights are on at the Adelaide Oval, Australia have more than 450 on the board and Mitchell Starc has the pink ball in his hand.

It’s a brutal concoction: scoreboard pressure, wet-your-pants pace and inevitable movement. Yeah, this ain’t gonna be easy for England. Best of luck, Rory and Haseeb.

Initially, though, there’s hope for the openers. Hameed takes strike and Starc makes the first mistake – he doesn’t make the batter play. The first two balls are wide of off stump and the right-hander can breathe. The third delivery is the first real test: on a length, moving back in and just fingertips away from brushing the off stump. Hameed leaves it alone and with enough authority to suggest that it’s supreme judgement, not luck, that’s granted him survival. Moments later, he’s on the attack, the high elbow and gentle hands working together to drive one through the covers and reveal the charming elegance that has always sat at the heart of his game.

The shot brings three and Burns on strike for the penultimate ball of Starc’s over. Just like that first-baller at Brisbane, the front foot sweeps the crease and dances with the devil, but this time his bat is switched on. To finish up, Burns hoovers up the fuller delivery and clips it through the leg side for four.

Six deliveries bring seven runs and a reminder too. There’s a reason these two batters are here and opening the batting for England in Australia. In one corner is an Ashes centurion who’s gutsed it out for years with a technique that’ll always invite questioning. In the other is one hell of a comeback story. They had their moments in the summer, putting on two century stands against India. There is sound logic as to why they are where they are.

But there’s also the other side to the story, that same old tale that’s been on repeat throughout this year. Can the men up top bed in for just a bit, score just a few, soak up just enough to grant their side’s most prized asset, Joe Root, some respite before he’s forced to pad up and go to the well once more? In 2021, 26 England Test innings have resulted in 18 opening partnerships worth fewer than 20 runs. They’ve been 0-1 on six different occasions. The next man is always close by and so is Root; no second-wicket pair has celebrated a fifty partnership this year.

So it just had to be that their joy was short-lived. From one end, Jhye Richardson, glaring eyes to go with glorious speed and shape, tied up Hameed. From the other, Starc returned to nick Burns’ edge. Put aside the freakishness of his duck at the Gabba and it’s a bit of extra bounce that has caused Burns turmoil so far. A Pat Cummins delivery leapt at him in that same Test and Starc pulled his length back to strike his blow in Adelaide. Throw in a drop in the cordon off David Warner and it’s been a nightmarish tour so far for Burns.

Dawid Malan walks in but Hameed still has his flow: there’s another well-judged leave in him and another drive to unfurl. Starc, who doesn’t make him play enough, doesn’t seem to be a problem. In fact, Hameed will tick that box and get his chance against Michael Neser on debut. But there’s a problem straight away. He pulls out of Neser’s very first ball at the very last second and offers an unconvincing reply to the legitimate delivery, the bat suddenly shaky as the ball flies on the bounce to gully. Trouble is coming but it arrives in an unexpected manner: a chip to mid-on is Hameed’s downfall. It’s not an official ruling, but this silly game dictates that there are right and wrong ways to get out. This, society tells us, isn’t the way to go.

So it’s 12-2 and out comes Root, skipping to the crease and tasked with overseeing the rebuild. He’ll have to drive, cut and show his teammates the way. He’ll have to go big and then go even bigger. We’ve seen this one before.