As England and Australia prepare to man the barricades, the women to join them next week, much of the cricket world holds its breath and prepares to dive in.

Has any modern-day Ashes series, or any at all, been so highly anticipated? There are always great expectations for this tale of two countries, but England’s emergence from the bleak house of Ashes misery that imprisoned them in Australia 18 months ago has paved the way for a contest full of mystery.

These five men’s Tests are also a test of philosophies, personified by their captains. Ben Stokes is Test cricket’s evangelist, impassioned and on a mission to revolutionise the game and entertain the masses. He doesn’t do draws and he’ll risk it all to win.

At every stage of his captaincy the non-believers have grumbled that ‘Bazball’ won’t work in this country or those conditions, against this opposition or that team. He has repeatedly ripped up conventional wisdom and tossed it in the bin with first-innings declarations, soaring run-rates, new roles for bowlers and a willingness to try anything to move the game on. It shouldn’t work with any consistency and yet England keep winning.

At Edgbaston comes the moment when Stokes’ irresistible force meets Pat Cummins’ immovable object; the newly crowned World Test Champions, hard-nosed and ruthless, bearing a still-simmering frustration that they didn’t finish the job in 2019.

Australia set out their stall before leaving home. They view this as a six-Test tour and the first box on their ‘to-do’ list was emphatically ticked off at The Oval. It calls to mind their mantra ahead of and throughout their tour of Pakistan last year. They likened the three-match series to a 15-day Test, anticipating flat pitches and grinding conditions that would offer rare windows of opportunity. There was conventional wisdom employed, declaration timings that weren’t just about trying to win but also wearing out the opposition. It worked; Australia pressed their advantage on the 15th day and left Lahore with a one-nil series victory.

Six months later, before England’s tour of Pakistan, Ben Stokes was asked his thoughts about such an approach. He responded with half a chuckle and said it sounded like too much hard work; his England would aim to win every Test. They did, in ludicrously glorious fashion.

In the build up to the first Test the contrast is there in the selection of each XI. Two years after playing his last red-ball game, Moeen Ali answered Stokes’ SOS signal with an LOL and acknowledged he’s never been able to hold up an end. Who else would make such a logic-defying call but a captain whose instincts have taken his team where none have gone before?

“That was a sort of a stomach and a heart feeling rather than my brain,” Stokes said on the eve of the first day. “And I’ve generally stuck with my gut and my heart throughout my whole captaincy so far.”

England showed their hand by announcing their team two days out, a gambit that reflected Stokes’ confidence. Australia made their decision a day later but kept their cards hidden. Asked how much gut and how much brain had factored in the choice of two bowlers between Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc, Cummins was considered.

“You weigh up everything, you hope and, when you’ve got such quality assets to throw at it, I don’t think there is a wrong answer,” Cummins said. “You kind of judge on what you value more. Whether it’s data from past series, how someone’s injury’s tracking, how they’ve been going lately, the makeup of the attack. And yeah, we always use a bit of gut feel, a bit of data.”

When each man was asked how much he will push himself as a bowler in a five-Test series played across six-and-a-half weeks, the subtly different answers were illuminating.

“You’ve got to have different gears,” said Cummins. “Not only to get through a game, but we play a hundred days of the year so there are lots of important games. There’s no point killing yourself in one game and then not playing the other hundred. So I always feel like, even with my bowling, I probably operate at my best when I’m at 90 or 95 per cent. Anything harder, if I really try to run in and bowl fast, maybe my seam isn’t as good, maybe I don’t swing the ball as much. I feel like I’ve found a pace that I’m happy playing at, pretty much all year round.”

Stokes was perhaps talking through his dodgy knee as much as his ticker: “I’ll give 100 per cent of what I’ve got at the time.”

But make no mistake. Cummins is not the heartless scarecrow and Stokes is no brainless tin man on this quest. There is more intelligence and thoughtful consideration in Ben Stokes’ game plans than is often credited.

And anyone who watched Cummins bowl on the final day in the searing Lahore heat saw him run in with his heart as much as his legs.

Certainly neither man is a cowardly lion.

This Ashes series will largely be decided on skill, endurance and probably a little luck.

It may also come down to which captain has the courage to make decisions that will appear foolish or the work of genius, depending on the outcome.

But time for the prelude to end. Popcorn ready, curtains up, cue the lights.

It’s the showtime we’ve all been craving.