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Nobody talks about the last ball of the Ashes. That initial ball that's legendary. That wide that reaches the slip cordon, that cover drive for four, that fallen stump, clean bowled! Concluding moments? I had to look them up. Moeen Ali edging a shot behind to finish an innings rout in a meaningless match in 2015; Rankin being grabbed by the slip fielder off Ryan Harris, Rankin featuring in his one and only Test at the fag-end of a rapid downfall 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 only four Australia score in a target they'll not undertake in 2005.

It distinguishes 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 trips Down Under have concluded in failure, instead of with them. Flower lost his job as head coach after a crushing loss, in 2013-14, Silverwood was let go after a subsequent one, in 2021-22. One could assemble a pair of XIs out of English cricketers who featured in their final Test match at the conclusion of an Australian tour during the last quarter-century, and even have a several individuals over to act as substitutes for both teams.

This England team have never claimed to care too much about results. Ben Stokes, like Eoin Morgan with the one-day side before him, frequently remarks that whether or not a lofted drive is grabbed near the fence isn't as important as whether it was the proper call to attempt it in the beginning, and while fielding he's happy to clap a bowler who concedes runs so long as they bringing the team toward taking that following breakthrough. But then the key rationale Ben Stokes tried to teach his team to follow this style was so they would be in a better position to execute the kind of cricket he believes will do well for them in Australia.

The forthcoming contest, for which they have been preparing for so long, already appears as the conclusion they are bound to face. It is this aggressive approach's decisive moment. And there are numerous “I told you so’s” in English cricket for the team to escape criticism if they do suffer another poor loss in the next few weeks. His methodology has been predicated on defying expectations, and the flipside is it appears there are plenty of people who would be pleased to be validated.

Given that, it's a good moment to point out that the important question goes beyond where this concludes, but regardless of whether we enjoyed it along the way. Four years ago, England were an utterly abject sports team. They had been overcome in four consecutive series and were trailing in the fifth, against the Indian team, when it was halted because of the pandemic. They had won exactly one Test match out of a series of 17, and lost twelve of them by embarrassing margins. Eight wickets to New Zealand at the historic venue, A 157-run loss to India at the the famous stadium, an a comprehensive loss to the Aussie team at Melbourne, 10 wickets to West Indies in the island nation.

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

By the conclusion, after all those stretches of testing and preventive measures and controlled settings and endless beatings at the hands of each rival, they were virtually the most disheartened and exhausted Test team England had ever fielded to a sports ground. A great deal of what Ben Stokes and McCullum have done in the following period was in response to all that, as well as the former's personal encounters during his time away from the game in 2021 when he had suffered a period of mental health challenges. It was intended to emphasize to all that it was intended as fun, if it was supposed to be anything at all.

This continues to be the case now. Despite when the the historic series is on the line, and although the team have ultimately accepted that they need to be a slightly versatile in the way they tackle playing the game. Daily routines has a way of crowding in, it can be difficult to remember the insights we gain in our toughest times.

This is the English squad that secured back-to-back final innings pursuits of significant totals in one season against New Zealand; that scored 378 to beat the subcontinent giants that same summer; that became the pioneering away squad to win a comprehensive victory in Pakistan; that showed resilience to a tie after going 2-0 down in the Ashes; that defeated the Indian team in the southern city off the back of one of the most remarkable knocks ever performed in the the area, and then defeated the Pakistani team in Multan off the back of a further exceptional performance.

Here we have the England team, too, that somehow end up being defeated in a Test by an large margin even though the other team made only 326; who fetched up being defeated in one of the more exciting matches ever played after making a confident decision in the opening session against the Black Caps, and then repeated the action against the Australian team; who were thrashed by a huge margin in the venue, and who were on the unsuccessful part of one of the island nation's most notable triumphs. Collectively, they have recorded some of the unlikeliest wins, experienced some of the ugliest dismissals, achieved some of the most improbable centuries, and secured some of the most remarkable five-wicket hauls in the history of English cricket.

However this prestigious tournament concludes, they have been, in turn, amazing, outrageous, ridiculous, infuriating, and completely, unapologetically, unashamedly entertaining.