Ashes first day gets underway at Edgbaston

A straw coloured dry wicket convinced Stokes to bat first, despite Edgbaston traditionally being a good venue to bowl first.

In the last 20 years, the win percentage of teams batting first stands at just 37 per cent, the lowest for any UK ground to have hosted 10 matches or more in that time.

England side to face Australia: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson

Australia side to face England: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith (vice-captain), David Warner.

Pat Cummins, Australia captain, conceded that the Aussies would have chosen to bat first for “it looks like a good wicket”.

Since Ben Stokes became captain, England have gone from one win in 17 tests to 11 victories in 13 tests.

In the build up, Stokes said: "It's about making the guys in the dressing room believe they are incredible players, making them believe in themselves a lot more than they probably did before that.

"Making them believe they were better than they originally thought. Hopefully I have done that.

"I feel I have always had a very good relationship with the players in this dressing room.

"One of the most important things as captain was still having the same trust now that I making the big decisions."

As the Australians arrived, David Warner was booed and heckled while jeers of “cheat” followed Steve Smith into the Edgbaston concourse.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins said: "Our team is pretty chilled out there. We are quite a confident bunch but not overly loud or in your face. I think you have seen our personality reflected out on the field.

"I am sure there is going to be emotion at times but I would be surprised if that bubbled over like maybe it has in the past.”

England star bowler Stuart Broad believes this series to have had the “biggest buildup” of any Ashes series in living memory and admitted that he was “loving the circus.”

Broad said: “It feels like this series is building nicely because Australia have an undoubted belief within their camp that they’ll come and win here. And we’ve got an undoubted belief that we’re going to win.”

Former captains have weighed in with predictions for the highly-anticipated first test.

Ricky Ponting, former Australian captain, said: "Australia have to start this Test match well, especially if they bowl first. They have to keep this crowd quiet.

"It will be easier in the first part of the day but harder when the beers are in and it gets rowdy, particularly if England are playing well."

Alastair Cook, England captain when they last won the series in 2015, said: “Ben Stokes looks born to lead.

“He was always a leader in the dressing room, people followed him just because of his personality. But the way he has captained, the way he has influenced games tactically as well has been brilliant.”

In fighting talk down under, Gideon Haigh writes in The Australian about England's Bazball approach: "New and exciting but meretricious and ­ultimately unsound.

"When your top three are David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne, it is tempting to regard Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope as Logan Roy did his offspring – “not serious people”."

Comparison are unsurprisingly already being drawn between Joe Root and Steve Smith, who have both featured in 56 Ashes innings.

In those innings, Root has 2,016 runs, 38.76 average, 3 centuries, 11 fifties, while Smith has 3,044 runs, 59.68 average, 11 centuries, 11 fifties.

Dates for the Test matches are as follows: First Test (Edgbaston) - Friday June 16 - Tuesday June 20; Second Test (Lord's) - Wednesday June 28 - Sunday July 2; Third Test (Headingley) - Thursday July 6 - Monday July 10; Fourth Test (Old Trafford) - Wednesday July 19 - Sunday July 23; Fifth Test (The Oval) - Thursday July 27 - Monday July 31.

The first test match between the two sides was played in Melbourne in 1877, while the Ashes as we know it now started in 1882/83.