McCullum was in the foothills of a Twenty20 coaching career but had been the name buzzing around Key’s mind since the start, impressed by his captaincy of New Zealand. That joyful team had already been the muse for England’s white-ball resurgence under Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss, with the former asked for a reference on an admittedly close friend but having also seen first-hand his nascent second career at Kolkata Knight Riders. David Warner v Stuart Broad. Steve Smith's path to becoming the most prolific Ashes run-getter since Don Bradman. Broad and James Anderson's final stab at the Aussies. Moeen Ali's return. Travis Head's moustache. Zak Crawley's outside edge.

The new collection features a number of items to get fans in the mood or to show their support ahead of the first test. Castore have not only unveiled items for supporters such as t-shirts, hats and hoodies but also replicas of the men and women's shirts the players will wear throughout The Ashes. Go deep beneath the waves: Hidden cameras give incredible perspectives on ingenious ocean creatures It is their disciplined lines to Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne that will be so important because they like to bat for long periods, which will be series-winning if it happens again. One of the forgotten successes of the last Ashes series was how England found a way to get on top of Smith and Labuschagne, both fading as the series wore on. Robinson holds that key with his accuracy, nip off the seam and air of narkiness that will be used to rile Australia. He is the unofficial leader of the sledging. Bazball verdict England have been very slightly less successful than they have been fun, but I would criticise nothing about them except their loyalty. Anderson earned his place in the final two Tests over the past 20 years, rather than the last six weeks. Head got serenaded for dropping an admittedly tough chance off Harry Brook, Lyon the subject of a rude comparison with Moeen Ali from the Hollies Stand.

Australia could punch a hole in the ‘Bazball’ phenomenon and bask in a ‘told you so’ smugness that would go beyond just winning their first series in England for 22 years. Moment of the series Has to be Woakes hitting the winning runs at Headingley. When Woakes walks out, the series is basically disintegrating towards an ill-tempered anticlimax. When he walks off triumphant, you can tell from the noise alone that it’s alive again. Harry Brook, pictured in action in the Test against New Zealand in February 2023, has been one of the emerging stars under Stokes and McCullum. Photograph: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images What we know is it is 22 years since Australia have won in this country. In that time, England have never failed to win at least two Tests in a home Ashes. For any team to win an Ashes series away is incredibly difficult, even if that team does happen to be the world champions.

On the one hand, it was un-Australian. Not fighting fire with fire, but trying to avoid it by diligently completing a risk assessment. On the other, pragmatism can be seen as a sign of strength, having enough confidence in your team to adapt to the situation. Home advantage makes England slight favourites,” says Morgan. “But Australia are incredibly strong. I see two positives to England’s method: if it works early in the series, it will tempt Australia to change how they play or see them start to question themselves. That can lead to changes in selection, etc.England are enchanting, riding the wave of hope and expectation from fans that believe in them again. Sir Alastair Cook, who has swapped playing on these mornings for talking about them, carries out the famous urn flanked by flames. Would it have been better to continue to flog the sun-sapped Australians for the remainder of the day and possibly even into the second morning? Something towards 450 sounds nice, doesn't it?

Australia face the prospect of some fine batting conditions on Saturday. England can look forward to some hard yakka. Although the pitch seems like a featherbed now, there is a suggestion of low bounce and turn.

Farewell to … The northern Test venues, Warner, any pretence of trying to make the players get through their stipulated 90 overs in a day, Khawaja, Stokes’s career as a Test match all-rounder, Robinson’s reputation as the next great English seam bowler, Broad, of course, oh and Lord’s air of grace and civility, if not, apparently, its divine right to host two Tests a year. Speak to those who have faced the first Ashes salvo and they fall into two camps. Those who say "it's just another ball" and the others that call them bluffers. One day in and the most hyped Ashes series in a generation has started by more than living up to expectations. Where on earth do we go from here? It did mean Travis Head and Nathan Lyon were chosen to spend pretty much all day on the fence, closer to the rowdy England fans than their own team-mates. The earliest, by the way, was three matches ago in the day-nighter against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui.

Australian Florence Morphy gave the small terracotta urn to England captain Ivo Bligh as a trophy and symbol of her love. The pair would eventually be married, while the two rival teams had something tangible to compete for. Key also knew Stokes was set to hit the task hard as the clouds of bubble life and his mental health problems the previous summer lifted. Had he sought to offset the captain’s returning flame with an intense “drill sergeant” head coach or one who was overly technical and fastidious, the result of this fire and ice, to quote the Spinal Tap bassist, Derek Smalls, would have been lukewarm water. They became fashionable in the 1960s, according to David Long, the author of The Hats That Made Britain: A History of the Nation Through Its Headwear, “when seemingly anything new and unusual was hip”. Popular with hip-hop artists such as Run-DMC and LL Cool J, latterly their currency has “grown out of festival culture” – they became synonymous with Britpop in the 90s, when the Gallagher brothers and Damon Albarn were rarely seen without one.In 2017-18 he went down under without Stokes because of the Bristol incident. In 2019, Root watched James Anderson limp out of the series after bowling only four overs. England are getting more and more out of the players by asking more of them to take on risk. Changing their method now makes no sense whatsoever.” The players emerge for their warm-ups, if that's what they are still called. As the crowd slowly builds, England have their football and Australia their Aussie Rules equivalent. What can we expect in 2025? Something completely different. England’s bowling group will be transformed by then and Australia could have lost half their first-choice side. There are big transitions coming and the next Ashes will test who has handled theirs the best. Emma John Player of the series Khawaja has been the most consistent batter but this has not been a Khawaja series. It has not been unshowy. It has not been a bit slow. Its skillset was not to be a consistent series. It was to be exhilarating at times, disappointing at others, but always entirely of itself. It has, in other words, been a Crawley series.