It was a decision that only England could have made. For their semi-final against India at the last T20 World Cup, they picked four seamers at one of the most spin-friendly venues in world cricket - Providence, in Guyana - who duly conceded 120 runs in 12 overs. Moeen Ali went unused. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav then predictably ran through England's middle order.
Like a score of England captains before him, across formats, Jos Buttler could never quite bring himself to trust his spinners. Seven months on from that World Cup, his team arrived in India with a battery of fast bowlers who leaked boundaries through a 4-1 thrashing; it proved to be Buttler's final T20I series as captain, leading into a miserable Champions Trophy exit.
Since then, something unprecedented has happened: spinners have bowled more overs for England's T20 team than seamers. It has been the single most notable aspect of Harry Brook's on-field captaincy, with England using at least eight overs of spin in every full-length T20 innings since he took over last June - and as many as 15.3 overs in one win in Pallekele this month.
It is a tactical shift designed specifically with this World Cup in mind: in England's first T20I under Brook, they picked only two front-line seamers at Chester-le-Street, a ground that is hardly renowned as a raging turner. "We don't want to look too far ahead, but we've got to trial some things like this. The next World Cup is going to be in Sri Lanka and India," Brook explained at the time.
It must also be the result of his own preferences as a player. It is intuitive that captains (who tend to be batters) would place a high value on bowlers who they struggle against themselves. It is likely the result of a simple cognitive bias, and an extension of a dynamic familiar to cricketers at all levels: if you want to be picked on Saturday, bowl well to your captain in the nets.
Brook's own record in T20Is is heavily skewed towards pace: he averages 46.20 runs per dismissal and scores at a 174.12 strike rate against seamers, compared to 19.29 and 128.25 respectively against spinners. That is partly a function of his role in the middle order - he tends to face seam only when he is already set - but even so, the numbers are marked.
That clear preference may well have informed his recent shift down from No. 4 to No. 5 - though he has still been dismissed by three spinners (Gudakesh Motie, Michael Leask and JJ Smuts) at this World Cup. He also struggled against spin in India during that 4-1 defeat a year ago, when Ravi Bishnoi dismissed him twice and Varun Chakravarthy three times.
It planted a seed that germinated when Brook was appointed captain. "You look at India's side and they're one of the best sides to play T20 cricket at the minute and they've got about five spinners," Brook said before this World Cup. "[You] think, 'Well, they're doing that, so why don't we have a little bit of a crack at that as well?'"
Brook's reliance on spin is also a reflection of England's talent pool and the scarcity of seamers available. Chris Jordan and Reece Topley were discarded after the last World Cup but few quicks have mounted a strong case for inclusion since; Josh Tongue, the back-up fast bowler in their current squad, has played just 21 T20 matches in his career, none of them for England.
But it is hard to believe that Brook's own experiences have not played a role - just as Buttler's own reticence to bowl spinners was surely informed by the ease with which he played them. It is a trend that extends across formats, and teams too: is it any wonder that Steven Smith, one of the outstanding modern players of spin, was so reluctant to pick a spinner in the Ashes?
Brook's first experience as a short-form captain came in the Hundred, where his Northern Superchargers team partnered Adil Rashid with Mitchell Santner. He has followed a near-identical strategy with England: Rashid has been ever-present under Brook's captaincy, as has the closest available approximation of Santner in the form of Liam Dawson.
Neither Dawson or Rashid have found things easy in the group stages of this World Cup. If anything, England probably bowled too much spin at the Wankhede and Eden Gardens, grounds with short boundaries, fast outfields, and pitches that do not fit the Indian stereotype of being spin-friendly.
Dawson was at least reasonably economical throughout, while Rashid had one outstanding game against West Indies (2 for 16 in four overs) and was otherwise expensive, taking a combined 4 for 121 in 11 overs against Associate opposition. Both will doubtless relish a return to Sri Lanka for the Super Eight, after success there earlier this year.
Conditions should also favour England's part-time options more, with two Super Eight fixtures in Pallekele and the third at the Premadasa. Will Jacks' six overs in India cost an eye-watering 83 runs, and Jacob Bethell went unused altogether, but both played vital roles with the ball in England's whitewash-clinching win earlier this month on a slow, used surface.
England's T20I record under Brook's captaincy is exceptional, with 11 wins in 13 completed matches. They are yet to convince at this World Cup, with three nervy victories over Associate opposition, and the next week will be a major challenge for a misfiring line-up. Whatever happens from here, at least they are unlikely to repeat the blunder of two years ago.