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People rarely mention the concluding moment of the Ashes. The opening delivery that's famous. That wide that reaches the slip cordon, that beautiful stroke for four, that fallen stump, bowled him! Last balls? I had to look them up. Moeen Ali edging a shot behind to end an innings defeat in a dead rubber in 2015; Rankin being grabbed by the slip fielder off Ryan Harris, Boyd Rankin playing in his single Test at the conclusion of a rapid downfall in a clean sweep that's been commonplace in 2014; a Harmison rising delivery ricocheting away Langer's shoulder for extras, the sole boundary Australia manage in a target they'll not attempt in 2005.

It distinguishes between wondering how things will go, and knowing how they do. One certainty is, there's no certainty there will be a happy ending. For the last decade, England's visits to Australia have ended in ashes, as opposed to with them. Andy Flower was dismissed as coach after an embarrassing rout, in 2013-14, Silverwood was sacked after another, in 2021-22. You can make a two lineups out of England players who played their last Test match at the back end of an trip Down Under during the last quarter-century, and additionally have a few players over to serve as reserves for each squad.

This England team have never claimed to worry excessively about results. Stokes, like Eoin Morgan with the ODI squad before him, always says that whether or not a aerial shot is caught on the boundary isn't as important as whether or not it was the correct choice to execute it in the outset, and in the field he's pleased to applaud a bowler who gives away boundaries so long as they help bring the team closer to taking that next wicket. But then the primary motive Stokes tried to guide his players to play this way was so they would be in a superior situation to execute the brand of the game he feels will perform effectively for them in Australia.

This Ashes series, for which they have been preparing for so long, already seems like the conclusion they cannot escape. It is Bazball's decisive moment. And there are too many “I told you so’s” in the English game for the team to avoid backlash if they do suffer another disappointing result in the upcoming period. Stokes's approach has been predicated on defying expectations, and the counterpart is it feels as if there are many individuals who would be pleased to be proven correct.

Considering this, it's a good moment to highlight that the important question goes beyond where this ultimately leads, but whether or not we found pleasure along the way. In the recent past, England were an completely dismal cricket team. They had been overcome in four consecutive series and were trailing in the fifth, against the Indian team, when it was suspended because of Covid. They had won a single Test match out of 17, and lost a dozen of them by humiliating deficits. A loss by eight wickets to the Black Caps at Edgbaston, A defeat by 157 runs to the subcontinent team at the Oval, an a comprehensive loss to Australia at the iconic ground, 10 wickets to West Indies in the scenic location.

England were thrashed by the Windies in the venue in spring 2022 just before Joe Root stepped aside as leader.

By the end, after all those months of testing and isolation and biosecure bubbles and endless beatings at the hands of each rival, they were just about the most disheartened and careworn Test team the English cricket board had ever sent out to a cricket field. A great deal of what Ben Stokes and McCullum have achieved in the following period was in reaction to all that, as well as the former's experiences during his time away from the game in 2021 when he had endured a series of panic attacks. It was intended to remind everyone that it was meant to be enjoyable, if it was supposed to be something.

That remains true now. Despite when the the prestigious contest is on the line, and regardless if the team have ultimately accepted that they need to be a somewhat adaptable in the way they approach performing. Everyday life has a way of intruding, it can be challenging to hold on to the insights we gain in our most difficult periods.

This is the national side that achieved consecutive final innings pursuits of 277, 299, and 296 in one season against the Kiwis; that made 378 to overcome the subcontinent giants that identical season; that became the initial visiting side to win a whitewash in Pakistan; that battled hard to a draw after going two games behind in the the series; that overcame the Indian team in Hyderabad off the back of one of the greatest innings ever executed in the the region, and then defeated Pakistan in Multan off the back of a subsequent one.

Here we have the England team, too, that managed to end up suffering a defeat in a Test by an innings even though the opposition made a relatively low total; who concluded suffering a loss in one of the more exciting matches ever contested after making a cocksure declaration in the opening session against New Zealand, and then followed suit against Australia; who were routed by 434 runs in the Indian city, and who were on the losing side of one of Sri Lanka's finest wins. Between them, they have achieved some of the most improbable victories, endured some of the ugliest dismissals, made some of the most improbable centuries, and secured some of the most startling five-wicket hauls in the annals of the English game.

However this prestigious tournament unfolds, they have been, in turn, amazing, unbelievable, absurd, exasperating, and completely, unapologetically, unapologetically thrilling.