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People rarely mention the concluding moment of the Ashes. It's the first that's famous. That errant delivery that reaches the slip cordon, that beautiful stroke for four, that dismissal, shattering the stumps! Last balls? I had to research them. Moeen Ali cutting a stroke behind to conclude a batting effort defeat in a inconsequential game in 2015; Boyd Rankin being caught in the slips off Harris, Boyd Rankin playing in his one and only Test at the tail-end of a quick disintegration in a comprehensive defeat that's been full of them in 2014; a Harmison rising delivery ricocheting away Langer's shoulder for four leg byes, the sole boundary the Australian team achieve in a target they'll not attempt in 2005.

It's the difference between wondering how things will go, and understanding how they do. One undeniable fact, there's no certainty there will be a happy ending. For the past ten years, England's visits to Australia have concluded in failure, as opposed to with them. Flower was removed as manager after an embarrassing rout, in 2013-14, Silverwood was sacked after another, in 2021-22. One could assemble a couple of teams out of England players who played their last Test match at the conclusion of an Australian tour during the last quarter-century, and still have a few players over to act as substitutes for each squad.

This England team have not asserted to worry excessively about consequences. Ben Stokes, like Eoin Morgan with the one-day side before him, always says that if a lofted drive is taken at the rope matters less as whether or not it was the right decision to execute it in the outset, and during play he's quick to praise a bowler who concedes runs so long as they bringing the team toward taking that next wicket. But then the key rationale Stokes tried to guide his players to play this way was so they would be in a superior situation to produce the kind of cricket he believes will do well for them in Australia.

This Ashes series, for which they have been planning extensively, already feels like the conclusion they can't get away from. It is this bold strategy's make or break moment. And there are an abundance of warnings of defeat in the English game for the team to escape criticism if they do experience another disappointing result in the next few weeks. The captain's strategy has been based on defying expectations, and the counterpart is it appears there are many individuals who would be thrilled to be proven correct.

In light of this, it's a appropriate time to emphasize that the important question is not only where this concludes, but regardless of whether we enjoyed it along the way. Four years ago, England were an completely dismal sports team. They had been defeated in a quartet of successive tournaments and were trailing in the fifth, against India, when it was postponed because of the virus. They had won exactly one Test match out of 17, and lost a dozen of them by large defeats. An eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand at the historic venue, A 157-run loss to the subcontinent team at the Oval, an innings and 14 runs to the Australians at the MCG, A defeat by ten wickets to the Caribbean side in the scenic location.

England were thrashed by the Windies in the island in the early part of 2022 just before Joe Root resigned as captain.

By the conclusion, after all those periods of nasal swabs and preventive measures and controlled settings and constant defeats at the hands of all opponents, they were virtually the most dejected and careworn Test team England had ever fielded to a cricket field. A significant portion of what Stokes and McCullum have accomplished in the subsequent years was in reaction to all that, as well as the former's personal encounters during his hiatus from the game in 2021 when he had suffered a period of mental health challenges. It was created to remind everyone that it was meant to be entertaining, if it was supposed to be anything.

This continues to be the case now. Even when the the historic series is on the line, and although the team have finally recognized that they need to be a little more flexible in the way they tackle competing. Everyday life has a way of imposing, it can be challenging to remember the knowledge we acquire in our toughest times.

This is the England team that secured back-to-back final innings pursuits of significant totals in one period against the Black Caps; that achieved a massive 378 to overcome the subcontinent giants that same summer; that became the first touring team to win a comprehensive victory in Pakistan; that fought back to a stalemate after going 2-0 down in the the series; that defeated the Indian team in the historic venue off the back of one of the most remarkable knocks ever executed in the subcontinent, and then overcame Pakistan in the city off the back of a further exceptional performance.

Here we have the England team, too, that somehow end up losing a Test by an innings even though the other team made a relatively low total; who fetched up being defeated in one of the more exciting matches ever staged after making a cocksure declaration in the initial batting effort against the Black Caps, and then repeated the action against the Aussies; who were routed by a massive 434 runs in Rajkot, and who were on the losing side of one of the island nation's most notable triumphs. Between them, they have achieved some of the unlikeliest wins, suffered some of the ugliest dismissals, made some of the surprising hundreds, and achieved some of the most surprising five-wicket hauls in the annals of English cricket.

No matter how this Ashes series shakes out, they have been, in turn, incredible, unbelievable, absurd, exasperating, and entirely, unapologetically, unapologetically thrilling.