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That initial delivery in an Ashes contest represents significantly more than just a single pitch.

It represents a nerve-wracking two to three seconds of pure theatre, when all of pre-contest talk finally ends.

"To set the tone for the whole contest would prove truly special," commented England paceman Gus Atkinson when asked regarding the possibility recently.

"I know there have been multiple iconic opening-delivery instances during Ashes history. The opportunity to add that history seems cool."

Like Atkinson notes, the opening ball has delivered some of the truly historic Ashes instances - ones that seemed to set that narrative or at least proved easy to reference later on...

Cummins Crashing Through the Covers

Zak Crawley had spent the preparation for 2023's Ashes contemplating striking that first ball for a boundary - about hoping to "deliver an impact."

Australia skipper Pat Cummins approached from the pavilion end when the batsman drilled a drive past cover field amid deafening cheers by the England fans.

"I've long been an enormous fan regarding the opening delivery of the Ashes," the opener shared.

"I was watching it from growing up and I understood a couple weeks out that should we won coin toss it meant a good possibility of receiving that ball."

"I talked with Brooky about this when we were golfing on course - that it could be special if I could hit the first one away to deliver an impact."

The English didn't won that series - while Australia dramatically won that first match on last day - yet it was a hint of the way Stokes' side would play aggressively throughout the summer.

The Opener & England Bowled Over

That moment in Edgbaston remains among rare first deliveries to go the way of the English, however.

Far more typically they have been ominous indicators of Australia's dominance that was following.

On the 2021-22 tour, Mitchell Starc bowled English opener Rory Burns via a leg-stump half-volley in the Gabba becoming the initial bowler claiming a wicket on the first ball in an Ashes series after Australian seamer Ernest McCormick during 1936.

The English build-up had been inadequate and in that point during Aussie elation England received a punch to their morale.

"My spirit simply plummeted to the floor," said bowler Stuart Broad, watching watching from the pavilion.

"We had worked for this series and immediately, first ball, he's dismissed."

The series were lost within 11 additional days and Australia won the contest 4-0.

Slater's Statement Delivery

It is also unsurprising a captain who reveled in "mental disintegration" believed events were set through a similar incident twenty-seven years earlier.

Steve Waugh and Australia were seeking their fourth Ashes series win consecutively as batsman Michael Slater began 1994's contest by emphatically hitting English seamer Phil DeFreitas for four through backward point.

"It felt like 'okay team here we go again we've got them now'," recalled Waugh, who would play all five Tests in a 3-1 domestic win.

"In our minds it was like we are on top now so we should keep hammering away. We understand how to defeat these guys."

Ominous.

Harmison's Dreadful Delivery

But what if that delivery proves just that - a single among 10,000 or so to start the series?

The wide Steve Harmison bowled to start 2006's Ashes - where he hurled the delivery into the grasp of captain Andrew Flintoff in second slip, nearly avoiding the cut strip in the process - proved the most remembered Ashes series first ball ever.

"I panicked," the bowler explained journalists shortly afterwards.

"I let the pressure of the occasion get to me. Everything felt so unfamiliar for me. My whole body was nervous."

"I couldn't stop my grip from sweating. The first ball slipped out of my hands, the second did too, then, after that, I possessed no consistency, zero."

The English had won 2005's Ashes fifteen months earlier yet were resoundingly beaten five-nil. Some argue those Ashes ended at that very instant.

"We weren't prepared enough to defeat