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That initial delivery of a contest represents much more than just a single ball.

It embodies an nerve-wracking two to four seconds of sheer excitement, when every bit of the pre-contest hype finally ends.

"To establish that mood throughout the entire contest would be truly special," stated English bowler Gus Atkinson after asked about this possibility this week.

"I'm aware we've witnessed several memorable first-ball moments in Ashes cricket history. The opportunity to add that tradition seems amazing."

As the bowler notes, that opening delivery has delivered some of the most memorable Ashes instances - events that seemed to set the storyline and minimum became convenient to look back on in hindsight...

Cummins Driving Past the Covers

Zak Crawley dedicated his preparation to the 2023 Ashes series thinking about striking the first ball for four runs - regarding wanting to "create a message."

Australian skipper Pat Cummins charged in from Edgbaston when the batsman drilled a shot through cover field to roaring cheers by English supporters.

"I've always been a huge fan regarding the first ball in the Ashes," Crawley explained.

"I was observing them since youth and I understood a couple weeks out that if we won coin toss it meant an excellent chance to facing that ball."

"I talked with Brooky about it while we played playing golf on course - saying it would be cool should I hit that first ball away and make an impact."

The English may not have claimed that series - and Australia dramatically took the opening match on the final day - yet it proved a hint of the way Stokes' team would play aggressively throughout that summer.

Burns & England Dismissed Early

That moment in Birmingham remains among the few opening deliveries to go the way of England, however.

Far more frequently they've served as telling signs of Australia's superiority that was to come.

During the 2021-22 series, Mitchell Starc bowled English opener Rory Burns with a leg-stump half-volley at Brisbane becoming the initial pitcher claiming a wicket on the opening delivery in a series after Aussie bowler Ernest McCormick during the 1930s.

England's build-up was inadequate so at that moment of Aussie jubilation England took a blow psychologically.

"My emotion just dropped to the floor," said paceman Stuart Broad, watching observing in the dressing room.

"You have prepared for this series and immediately, opening delivery, he's out."

The series were gone in eleven more days while the Australians claimed the series four-nil.

The Opener's Impact Shot

It is also unsurprising an Australian skipper who thrived on "mental disintegration" thought events were set by an identical incident 27 years earlier.

Steve Waugh with the Australians aimed for their fourth Ashes win consecutively as opener Michael Slater started 1994's contest by emphatically driving English bowler Phil DeFreitas for four through the offside.

"It was like 'alright team we're off again we've dominated now'," recalled Waugh, who'd play all five matches in a 3-1 domestic win.

"In our minds it was as if we are dominant already and we should continue pressing on. We know how to defeat this team."

Foreboding.

Harmison's Dreadful Wide

But suppose the first delivery is only that - a single among 10,000 or so to start the series?

The errant delivery Steve Harmison delivered to begin the 2006-07 series - when he hurled the delivery into the grasp of skipper Andrew Flintoff at the slips, almost missing the cut strip completely - has become the most famous Ashes series first ball in history.

"I tensed," the bowler explained media shortly afterwards.

"I allowed the enormity of the moment affect me. It all felt so alien for me. My whole body was nervous."

"I couldn't stop my hands to stop sweating. The first ball slipped from my grasp, the next did as well, then, after that, I had no control, zero."

England had won 2005's Ashes fifteen months earlier yet were resoundingly defeated 5-0. Many believe those series ended at that very instant.

"We simply weren't skilled enough to defeat