Australia will enter the Ashes as the World Test Champions with a complete set of ICC trophies now in the cabinet of the nation whose claim to be the kings of cricket has never been stronger.
If Australia are the best in the world in Test cricket then they should be able to overcome England on their own patch.
However the host nation for this edition of the Ashes are resurgent of late, still riding a wave of optimism off the back of promising results under their new coach Brendon McCullum.
Now the test is for England to prove that Bazball amounts to something more than simply being flat track bullies when the occassion presents itself.
Of course England have shown that their hyper-positive approach works in all sorts of environments but can they pull it off against a team not only carrying the World Test Championship but also a side that has a considerable amount of wood over them.
Australia are and likely will always be the great bogey man for England, with history that will forever link the nations.
With that in the back of their minds England might find it just that bit harder to always take the positive option when facing the great enemy.
While Australia’s success might be easy to attribute to their world-class pace attack it has been the weight of middle-order runs that have brought them back to the pinnacle of the game.
Both England and Australia have been desperate to sort out their batting but it seems that the men from Downunder have a big edge here thanks to the form of Travis Head, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
This Ashes will also be the last for David Warner who will quit the Test game in the Australian summer after the match against Pakistan at the SCG.
Australia being world champions will just give them that little bit more confidence and when the Aussies puff out their chests they can be close to unstoppable.
