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Few recall the last ball of the Ashes. It's the first that's renowned. That stray ball that reaches the slip cordon, that elegant shot for four, that dismissal, bowled him! Last balls? I had to research them. Moeen Ali edging a shot behind to conclude a batting effort loss in a meaningless match in 2015; Boyd Rankin being grabbed by the slip fielder off Ryan Harris, Rankin playing in his single Test at the tail-end of a rapid downfall in a 5-0 whitewash that's been plentiful in 2014; a Steve Harmison bouncer ricocheting away Langer's shoulder for four leg byes, the only four the Australian team manage in a run chase they'll never get to make in 2005.

It's the difference between speculating how things will go, and knowing how they do. One thing's certain, there's no certainty there will be a positive outcome. For the past ten years, the English Australian tours have ended in ashes, rather than with them. Andy Flower was dismissed as head coach after one humiliating defeat, in 2013-14, Chris Silverwood was sacked after a further defeat, in 2021-22. It's possible to form a couple of teams out of English cricketers who featured in their final Test match at the back end of an Australian tour during the previous 25 years, and additionally have a few players over to act as substitutes for either side.

The current English side have never claimed to be overly concerned about outcomes. Stokes, like Eoin Morgan with the one-day side before him, consistently states that if a lifted stroke is taken at the rope isn't as important as whether it was the right decision to attempt it in the outset, and while fielding he's quick to praise a delivery man who concedes runs so long as they help bring the team toward taking that next wicket. But then the very reason Stokes tried to teach his team to follow this style was so they would be in a more advantageous state to deliver the brand of the game he feels will succeed for them in Australia.

The forthcoming contest, for which they have been planning extensively, already appears as the conclusion they can't get away from. It is Bazball's decisive moment. And there are an abundance of “I told you so’s” in English cricket for the team to escape criticism if they do suffer another poor loss in the upcoming period. Stokes's approach has been founded on defying expectations, and the flipside is it appears there are many individuals who would be delighted to be proven correct.

In light of this, it's a good moment to emphasize that the key issue goes beyond where this concludes, but if we enjoyed it along the way. A few years back, the English team were an thoroughly poor cricket team. They had been beaten in four consecutive series and were trailing in the final one, against India, when it was halted because of Covid. They had won a single Test match out of seventeen, and lost a dozen of them by embarrassing margins. A loss by eight wickets to the Black Caps at the Birmingham ground, A defeat by 157 runs to the subcontinent team at the the London ground, an an innings defeat to the Australians at the MCG, A ten-wicket loss to the Caribbean side in Grenada.

The English side was routed by the Windies in the island in the early part of 2022 just before Joe Root stepped aside as captain.

By the end, after all those stretches of testing and social distancing and controlled settings and constant defeats at the hands of each rival, they were virtually the most miserable and weary Test team the English cricket board had ever put on to a sports ground. So much of what Ben Stokes and McCullum have achieved in the years since was in reaction to all that, as well as the former's personal encounters during his five-month break from the game in 2021 when he had experienced a period of mental health challenges. It was designed to emphasize to all that it was supposed to be enjoyable, if it was meant to be anything at all.

This continues to be the case now. Although the the prestigious contest is on the line, and regardless if the team have finally recognized that they need to be a slightly versatile in the way they approach performing. Daily routines has a way of crowding in, it can be challenging to remember the knowledge we acquire in our most difficult periods.

Here is the English squad that achieved back-to-back fourth-innings chases of 277, 299, and 296 in one summer against the Black Caps; that achieved 378 to overcome the Indian team that identical season; that became the pioneering away squad to win a comprehensive victory in the subcontinent country; that showed resilience to a tie after going two games behind in the the contest; that overcame India in Hyderabad off the back of one of the most remarkable knocks ever executed in the subcontinent, and then beat Pakistan in the location off the back of another.

It is the English squad, too, that managed to end up being defeated in a Test by an large margin even though the rivals made a relatively low total; who fetched up being defeated in one of the finer contests ever staged after making a confident decision in the opening session against New Zealand, and then repeated the action against the Australian team; who were routed by 434 runs in the venue, and who were on the losing side of one of the island nation's greatest victories. Collectively, they have secured some of the most improbable victories, endured some of the most embarrassing exits, achieved some of the most improbable tons, and achieved some of the most startling exceptional bowling spells in the history of English cricket.

However this historic contest concludes, they have been, in turn, incredible, preposterous, ridiculous, exasperating, and totally, unrepentantly, unashamedly thrilling.