Ordinarily, having a team 3-345 after choosing to send them in would be a sign of a poor or squandered toss decision. But when it comes to a team as severely outclassed as the West Indies are against Australia, the inescapable conclusion is it would have made little positive difference.
Anyone hoping for a contest on day one of the Boxing Day Test had their wish granted. But rather than from the West Indies against Australia it was between two of the home team's players, Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja, about which could reach their century first. It was Burns, just, as their milestones came in the space of three deliveries.
The ease what which the Queenslanders compiled a partnership of 258, after being made to bat first at the MCG, would have exacerbated Shaun Marsh's frustration at missing selection. 
Adam Voges, who thrived in Hobart, has the chance to do so again. He will resume on 10 alongside captain Steve Smith on 32.
Any temptation West Indies captain Jason Holder would have had to field first, given the rain that had dogged Melbourne, would have been helped by the distinctly green tinge to the pitch when it was uncovered just before the toss, of which the mandatory mow did little to change.
Holder won the toss and sent Australia in to bat in overcast conditions. By the time Burns and David Warner got there half an hour later, however, the skies had turned blue.
Across the first six hours of play the only wicket to fall was self-inflicted: that of Warner for 23, a score he raced to in eight deliveries. It extended his run of having yet to make an international century, in Tests or limited-overs, at the MCG.
The left-hander began with three consecutive boundaries. It was not that Warner was in Twenty20 mode; instead, it was that he was greeted with short dross from Kemar Roach that he sent to the boundary. Warner fell to a shot that regularly proved his downfall in England: the pull. He aimed the shot to a delivery aimed into him from Jerome Taylor, who attacked him from around the wicket, but was sufficiently cramped that the ball lobbed off the shoulder of his bat to mid-off, where Marlon Samuels came perilously close to dropping the chance, but eventually snared it.
Khawaja made a sedate start at the crease. Even though he did not reach the boundary until his 50th delivery, his scoring rate was decent because he was putting more effort in finding gaps in the field.
The left-hander offered a chance with the very next delivery as he tried to drive Taylor and produced a thick edge that flew to gully. Had Jermaine Blackwood anticipated it quicker he would not have had to dive to his right. It was not an easy chance, but a team as badly outclassed as the West Indies are cannot afford to spurn such chances.
From then, it was not until mid-way through the final session that the West Indies looked a realistic chance to take another wicket.
Burns, whose temperament is usually so good, launched wild attempts to drive debutant bowling all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite outside off-stump in three consecutive overs. Fortunately for him he either did not make contact, or when he did it flew over the slips cordon to the boundary. Once that passed, the West Indies' best hope of making inroads into Australia's batting order seemed to rest with the new ball.
Opener Burns departed for 128 just before the new ball when he advanced to part-time off-spinner Kraigg Brathwaite in an attempt to smother and spin but played inside and was stumped by Denesh Ramdin. Khawaja should have departed in the second over of the second new ball, on 142, when he steered a chance straight to Samuels at cover, only to survive when the veteran spilled the chance. That drop was not as consequential as it should have been, as he added another two runs before tickling a leg-side delivery from Taylor behind to Ramdin.
Given the ineffective bowling, the best thing that could be said about the West Indies was that, until Samuels' late shocker, they made a better effort in the field than in Hobart. The best example came when Carlos Brathwaite made a diving save to deny Burns a boundary.
AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES
SECOND TEST
DAY ONE
State of play
West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl against Australia.
Lunch Australia 1-7
(Burns 27, Khawaja 18)
Tea Australia 1-193
(Burns 83, Khawaja 84)
Stumps Australia 3-345
(Smith 32, Voges 10)
Key batsman
Joe Burns
Being reared at the Gabba is evident in how comfortable Burns is pulling on the back foot. We were reminded of this in the first over of the day when he effortlessly dispatched Jerome Taylor to the deep square-leg boundary. The right-hander went into his shell in the last hour before lunch, going from 13 off 21 deliveries to only 27 off 64 at the break. The wisdom of him prioritising survival was later evident, as he crunched two boundaries in his first full over after lunch. Burns will never dazzle like David Warner, but he has the temperament and talent to complement him well.
Key bowler
Jason Holder
As if the 24-year-old did not have enough of a burden, trying to captain a poor squad playing away in Australia, he also had to reprise his Hobart role of being the only bowler able to stifle Australia's scoring. Holder does not have the pace you might expect from someone so tall (201 centimetres) and strongly built, but he does possess a control conspicuously lacking in his senior pacemen Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach.
Key numbers
3
Streak at the MCG of captains who choose to field being rewarded with victory: Michael Clarke against England in 2013-14, England's Andrew Strauss in 2010-11 and Steve Waugh against South Africa in 2001-02. The last team to field after winning the toss and lose was the West Indies, in 2000-01.
69
Number of dot balls bowled by Jason Holder in his first two spells. Across those 13 overs, Australia's batsmen scored from only nine of his deliveries. His economy helped limit the damage.
The moment
Of all the bad things to come out of the West Indies' thrashing in the first Test, arguably the worst was how bad their bowlers were. Their batting is thin, but in Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach they possess proven Test-quality bowlers. Amid expectations of a strong recovery, Roach delivered a putrid response: his first three deliveries, all short, were deservedly dispatched to the boundary by Warner. His young captain was decisive, hauling him off after one over.


SCOREBOARD
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings   R M B 4s 6s
J Burns st Ramdin b K Brathwaite  128 308 230 16 1
D Warner c Samuels b Taylor   23 20 12 5 0
U Khawaja c Ramdin b Taylor   144 330 227 6 1
S Smith not out     32 65 49 3 0
A Voges not out             10 23 24 2 0
Sundries (3lb, 3w, 2nb)   8
TOTAL (for three wickets)            345
FALL: 29 (Warner), 287 (Burns), 328 (Khawaja).
BOWLING: J Taylor 18-2-83-2, K Roach 10-1-53-0, J Holder 17-6-33-0 (2nb), C Brathwaite 20-1-71-0 (3w), J Warrican 16-1-71-0, K Brathwaite 9-1-31-1. BATTING TIME: 375 mins. OVERS: 90.
TEAMS: Australia: Steven Smith (c), Joe Burns, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon. West Indies: Jason Holder (c), Kraigg Brathwaite, Rajendra Chandrika, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin, Carlos Brathwaite, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican.
STUMPS, day one