ENGLAND embarked on the second leg of an already memorable summer of cricket as the Ashes series began at Edgbaston in Birmingham today.
Little more than two weeks ago, the hosts lifted the Cricket World Cup for the first time ever following an incredible tied Final against New Zealand.
Now, though, the focus switches to the longest form of the game - and seven weeks of the thrills and spills of the oldest rivalry in the sport.
Australia currently hold the urn following their easy 4-0 home win in the 2017-18 winter. However, the tourists have failed to win an Ashes series on English soil since 2001.
For context, the last time that Australia triumphed in a Test series in England, this correspondent was not able to buy a pint in a pub, at least not legally - and that certainly seems a long time ago.
In a way, it is remarkable that England have the opportunity for a World Cup-Ashes double in the same summer.
After all, the 2013-14 away series was brought forward 12 months precisely to prevent the two competitions from being played one after another.
But this rivalry has become so marketable that, in the 14 years since 2005, it is only in the years in which a Summer Olympics has been held - 2008, 2012 and 2016 - that there has not been at least one Ashes Test.
Of course, too much of the same thing can become very tiresome and is not usually recommended - but, at least, this series has been given the added context of being the first fixture of the ICC Test Championship.
This new-fangled competition will run until early 2021 with a Final at Lord's held between the two best-performing Test teams between now and then - and the full fixtures can be found below.
Admittedly, the arrangement is far from perfect. Each of the nine teams will play a different amount of matches with the points distribution dependent on how many matches are in a series.
Sadly, there is also no place for three teams now able to play at Test level - Zimbabwe (currently suspended), Ireland and Afghanistan - the latter two of which have only recently been awarded that status.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see the international governing body making some sort of attempt to give some sort of meaningful context to Test cricket.
The Ashes, however, need no additional context - especially as this particular series is between two extremely fallible batting line-ups.
England have had an issue with openers ever since the start of this decade when former skipper Andrew Strauss retired in 2012, and left Alastair Cook without a reliable partner.
Cook, too, has now retired - and, as well as fielding two relatively inexperienced openers, current captain Joe Root has felt obliged to move up to three in the order to protect another Ashes rookie, Joe Denly.
As recently as last week, England were bowled out for just 85 inside a session by Ireland at Lord's as Tim Murtagh had a dream morning to take 5-13.
True, England eventually won by 143 runs after bowling Ireland out for the seventh-lowest Test score in history - 38 - but Australia are unlikely to be quite so forgiving.
At the same time, the Aussies have their own batting issues. Few of the Australian batsmen have much experience of the red Duke ball in overcast conditions - but unfortunately former captain and vice-captain, Steve Smith and David Warner, do.
The pair - infamously - lost their respective positions in Sandpaper-gate, an incident in which young opener Cameron Bancroft roughed up the ball with sandpaper, on the instruction of Smith and Warner.
But, while the guilty parties can expect a rough reception around the country during this series, it seems unlikely the English crowds will bother them too much, given that they have all been welcomed back into the Aussie fold.
Instead, at the outset, it feels as if the performance of the respective bowling attacks will be the key to which of these sides holds the urn aloft in September.
For England, World Cup winner Mark Wood has been ruled out of the whole campaign with a side strain - while leading England Test wicket-taker James Anderson has been struggling with a calf injury.
Nonetheless, the hosts still have plenty of pace options with the experienced Stuart Broad joined by Chris Woakes and all-rounder Ben Stokes, and with Jofra Archer also expected to be introduced at some point.
And, looking back, recent Ashes series held in England have been far more closely contested, in comparison to those played Down Under.
Indeed, most of them have effectively been decided by one player hitting a purple patch at some point during the campaign.
Consider the efforts of Andrew Flintoff in 2009, Ian Bell (three centuries) in 2013, and Broad (8-15 at Trent Bridge) in 2015.
Those sort of out-of-the-blue moments make the outcome of this series seriously difficult to predict.
After all, even a strong England One-Day team made life hard for themselves during the World Cup - and this feels like an even tougher task for a Test team with inherent weaknesses in its batting.
ASHES SERIES 2019
| 01-05 August | 1 Australia 284 & 487-7dec beat England 374 & 146 by 251 runs | Edgbaston |
| 14-18 August | 2 Australia 250 & 154-6 drew with England 258 & 258-5dec | Lord's |
| 22-26 August | THIRD TEST | Headingley |
| 04-08 September | FOURTH TEST | Old Trafford |
| 12-16 September | FIFTH TEST | The Oval |
INITIAL SQUADS
ENGLAND Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes (vc), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes
AUSTRALIA Tim Paine (c)(wk), Pat Cummins (vc), Travis Head (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner
ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP 2019-2021
| Date | Tests | |
| Aug-Sep 2019 | (5) | ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA |
| Aug 2019 | (2) | SRI LANKA v NEW ZEALAND |
| Aug-Sep 2019 | (2) | WEST INDIES v INDIA |
| Oct 2019 | (3) | INDIA v SOUTH AFRICA |
| Oct 2019 | (2) | PAKISTAN v SRI LANKA |
| Nov-Dec 2019 | (2) | AUSTRALIA v PAKISTAN |
| Nov 2019 | (2) | INDIA v BANGLADESH |
| Dec-Jan 2020 | (3) | AUSTRALIA v PAKISTAN |
| Dec-Jan 2020 | (4) | SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND |
| Jan 2020 | (2) | PAKISTAN v BANGLADESH |
| Feb 2020 | (2) | BANGLADESH v AUSTRALIA |
| Feb-Mar 2020 | (2) | NEW ZEALAND v INDIA |
| Mar 2020 | (2) | SRI LANKA v ENGLAND |
| Jun 2020 | (3) | ENGLAND v WEST INDIES |
| Jul 2020 | (3) | ENGLAND v PAKISTAN |
| Jul 2020 | (2) | SRI LANKA v BANGLADESH |
| Jul 2020 | (2) | WEST INDIES v SOUTH AFRICA |
| Aug 2020 | (2) | BANGLADESH v NEW ZEALAND |
| Nov 2020 | (3) | NEW ZEALAND v WEST INDIES |
| Nov-Jan 2021 | (4) | AUSTRALIA v INDIA |
| Dec 2020 | (2) | NEW ZEALAND v PAKISTAN |
| Jan 2021 | (3) | BANGLADESH v WEST INDIES |
| Jan 2021 | (5) | INDIA v ENGLAND |
| Jan 2021 | (2) | PAKISTAN v SOUTH AFRICA |
| Jan 2021 | (2) | SOUTH AFRICA v SRI LANKA |
| Feb 2021 | (3) | SOUTH AFRICA v AUSTRALIA |
| Feb 2021 | (2) | WEST INDIES v SRI LANKA |
| Jun 2021 | (1) | FINAL |
Points distribution
(2) 60 points for a Test win, 20 points each for a draw
(3) 40 points for a Test win, 13.3 points each for a draw
(4) 30 points for a Test win, 10 points each for a draw
(5) 24 points for a Test win, eight points each for a draw
NB A team that is behind the required over-rate at the end of a match will have two competition points deducted for each over it is behind
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