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Nobody talks about the final delivery of the Ashes. It's the first that's famous. That errant delivery that reaches the slip cordon, that cover drive for four, that fallen stump, bowled him! Final deliveries? I needed to check. Moeen Ali edging a shot behind to conclude a batting effort defeat in a inconsequential game in 2015; Boyd Rankin being caught in the slips off Ryan Harris, Rankin playing in his sole Test at the tail-end of a rapid downfall in a clean sweep that's been full of them in 2014; a Harmison short ball deflecting off Langer's shoulder for runs, the sole boundary Australia score in a pursuit they'll not attempt in 2005.

It's the difference between questioning how things will go, and seeing how they do. One thing's certain, there's no assurance there will be a happy ending. For the previous decade, England's Australian tours have ended in ashes, instead of with them. Andy Flower lost his job as coach after an embarrassing rout, in 2013-14, Chris Silverwood lost his after a further defeat, in 2021-22. You can make a pair of XIs out of English cricketers who participated in their concluding Test match at the back end of an tour to Australia during the previous 25 years, and still have a few players over to carry the drinks for each squad.

The current English side have not asserted to be overly concerned about outcomes. Ben Stokes, like Eoin Morgan with the ODI squad before him, consistently states that if a aerial shot is taken at the rope is secondary as whether it was the correct choice to attempt it in the first place, and while fielding he's quick to praise a pitcher who concedes runs so long as they are bringing the team nearer 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 produce the style of play he thinks will do well for them in Australia.

The upcoming Ashes, for which they have been planning extensively, already feels like the conclusion they are bound to face. It is this bold strategy's make or break moment. And there are an abundance of “I told you so’s” in English cricket for the team to escape criticism if they do experience another poor loss in the next few weeks. Stokes's approach has been founded on defying expectations, and the flipside is it appears there are plenty of people who would be delighted to be proven correct.

In light of this, it's a suitable occasion to point out that the key issue is not only where this ultimately leads, but regardless of whether we had fun along the way. A few years back, England were an thoroughly poor sports team. They had been defeated in a quartet of successive tournaments and were trailing in the fifth one, against the Indian team, when it was suspended because of the pandemic. They had won exactly one Test match out of 17, and lost twelve of them by humiliating deficits. Eight wickets to the Black Caps at Edgbaston, 157 runs to India at the the famous stadium, an an innings defeat to the Aussie team at the MCG, A ten-wicket loss to the Caribbean side in the scenic location.

England were thrashed by the Caribbean team in the island in spring 2022 just before Joe Root stepped down as captain.

By the final stage, after all those periods of testing and preventive measures and controlled settings and repeated losses at the hands of each rival, they were practically the most dejected and careworn Test team England had ever fielded to a playing arena. A great deal of what Stokes and Brendon McCullum have achieved in the years since was in a consequence of all that, as well as the Stokes' individual trials during his hiatus from the game in 2021 when he had endured a series of panic attacks. It was intended to remind everyone that it was intended as fun, if it was supposed to be anything.

It still is now. Although the Ashes is on the line, and even if the team have ultimately accepted that they need to be a slightly versatile in the way they tackle performing. Daily routines has a way of crowding in, it can be difficult to hold on to the insights we gain in our lowest moments.

Presented is the English squad that achieved successive final innings pursuits of three challenging targets in one summer against the Kiwis; that achieved 378 to overcome India that same summer; that became the pioneering away squad to win a comprehensive victory in the subcontinent country; that battled hard to a draw after going 2-0 down in the Ashes; that overcame India in the historic venue off the back of one of the greatest innings ever played in the the region, and then overcame the Pakistani team in the city off the back of a further exceptional performance.

This is the England team, too, that managed to end up suffering a defeat in a Test by an innings defeat even though the other team made a modest 326; who concluded suffering a loss in one of the better Tests ever contested after making a bold declaration in the initial batting effort against the Kiwis, and then followed suit against the Australian team; who were thrashed by 434 runs in the Indian city, and who were on the unsuccessful part of one of Sri Lanka's finest wins. As a unit, they have secured some of the surprising successes, experienced some of the poorest performances, made some of the most improbable centuries, and secured some of the most surprising exceptional bowling spells in the records of English cricket.

However this prestigious tournament unfolds, they have been, successively, incredible, unbelievable, unconventional, frustrating, and completely, without regret, unashamedly enjoyable.