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Nobody talks about the last ball of the Ashes. That initial ball that's famous. That errant delivery that goes to the slips, that cover drive for four, that dismissal, bowled him! Final deliveries? I had to research them. Moeen Ali edging a shot behind to conclude a batting effort rout in a dead rubber in 2015; Rankin being grabbed by the slip fielder off Harris, Boyd Rankin playing in his single Test at the tail-end of a quick disintegration in a clean sweep that's been commonplace in 2014; a Harmison short ball deflecting off Justin Langer's shoulder for four leg byes, the sole boundary the Australian team achieve in a run chase they'll not undertake in 2005.

It distinguishes between questioning how things will go, and knowing how they do. One undeniable fact, there's no assurance there will be a successful conclusion. For the previous decade, the English trips Down Under have ended in ashes, as opposed to with them. Flower lost his job as manager after an embarrassing rout, in 2013-14, Chris Silverwood lost his after a subsequent one, in 2021-22. It's possible to form a couple of teams out of national team members who featured in their final Test match at the back end of an tour to Australia during the previous 25 years, and even have a several individuals over to carry the drinks for either side.

The current English side have never claimed to worry excessively about results. Stokes, like Morgan with the one-day side before him, frequently remarks that regardless of whether a lifted stroke is grabbed near the fence is secondary as whether it was the right decision to attempt it in the first place, and in the field he's pleased to applaud a pitcher who allows scoring shots so long as they bringing the team closer to taking that next wicket. But then the very reason Stokes tried to teach his team 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.

The upcoming Ashes, for which they have been training rigorously, already feels like the result they cannot escape. It is this bold strategy's make or break moment. And there are too many warnings of defeat in the national sport for the team to escape criticism if they do experience another poor loss in the next few weeks. The captain's strategy has been based on challenging skeptics, and the flipside is it appears there are plenty of people who would be delighted to be proven correct.

Considering this, it's a appropriate time to highlight that the key issue isn't just where this ultimately leads, but regardless of whether we enjoyed it along the way. Four years ago, England were an utterly abject national side. They had been beaten in a quartet of successive tournaments and were trailing in the fifth one, against India, when it was postponed because of the virus. They had won a single Test match out of seventeen, and lost a dozen of them by embarrassing margins. An eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand at the Birmingham ground, A 157-run loss to the subcontinent team at the the London ground, an innings and 14 runs to the Aussie team at Melbourne, A ten-wicket loss to West Indies in the scenic location.

The team was soundly beaten by West Indies in Grenada in the early part of 2022 just before Joe Root stepped aside as skipper.

By the conclusion, after all those months of health protocols and social distancing and restricted environments and endless beatings at the hands of each rival, they were just about the most miserable and exhausted Test team England had ever sent out to a sports ground. A significant portion of what Ben Stokes and McCullum have achieved in the following period was in response to all that, as well as the Stokes' experiences during his five-month break from the game in 2021 when he had experienced a series of panic attacks. It was designed to emphasize to all that it was supposed to be fun, if it was meant to be something.

That remains true now. Although the the prestigious contest is on the line, and regardless if the team have ultimately accepted that they need to be a slightly versatile in the way they tackle competing. Everyday life has a way of crowding in, it can be hard to remember the insights we gain in our toughest times.

Here is the England team that peeled off back-to-back fourth-innings chases of 277, 299, and 296 in one summer against New Zealand; that made 378 to overcome the subcontinent giants that same summer; that became the pioneering away squad to win a whitewash in Pakistan; that showed resilience to a draw after going two games behind in the the series; that overcame the Indian team in the historic venue off the back of one of the greatest innings ever performed in the the area, and then beat Pakistan in the city off the back of another.

It is the English squad, too, that somehow end up losing a Test by an innings even though the rivals made a modest 326; who concluded losing one of the better Tests ever contested after making a confident decision in the first innings against New Zealand, and then followed suit against the Australian team; who were thrashed by a huge margin in the Indian city, and who were on the unsuccessful part of one of Sri Lanka's finest wins. Between them, they have achieved some of the most improbable victories, endured some of the most embarrassing exits, made some of the most improbable hundreds, and taken some of the most startling five-fers in the annals of English cricket.

However this Ashes series shakes out, they have been, in turn, amazing, unbelievable, ridiculous, exasperating, and totally, without regret, unashamedly enjoyable.