A little over fortnight has passed since their greatest ever white-ball triumph but there is no rest for the winners: England turn their attention to their most important red-ball assignment.

The Ashes returns.

England will need to switch their focus to regaining that famous urn, against an Australia side desperate to beat their oldest enemy away from home for the first time since 2001.

As if there was not enough reason to get excited about this highly-anticipated battle, the World Test Championship is also set to kick-off when the two oldest cricketing nations take on each other at Edgbaston.

Also read: Tim Paine and Joe Root’s journey towards Ashes captaincy

Here’s a look at some key talking points ahead of the five-Test series that starts in Birmingham on Thursday:

The Opening Move

Both England and Australia have batsmen at the top of the order with the ability to dictate the pace of an innings and with something to prove.

Australia’s David Warner, who had an impressive World Cup campaign, is resuming his Test career after serving a ban for his part in last year’s ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

Warner, 32, who has scored 21 Test centuries, has the knack of quickly taking the game away from the opposition and England will be desperate to get him early.

Jason Roy, 29, has played a single Test, against Ireland last week, after 84 one-day internationals for England and will be keen to show he can bring his swashbuckling style into the Test arena.

But Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood has warned him that Test cricket is a different ball game from the frenetic limited-overs format.

“We’ll see how Roy goes in Test cricket,” said Hazlewood. “He has only played one Test match and it’s a lot different opening the batting in a Test than a one-day game, that’s for sure.”

Root, on the other hand, said, “I want Jason to go out and play in his own way, naturally he has the ability to put any bowler under pressure at any time. I think that’s very exciting.”

The opening partnerships in the longest format has been a concern for both the sides in the recent past... and it is set to remain one of the key areas in this Ashes series as well.

Also read: From Botham’s all-round show in 1981 to the epic roller-coaster in 2005, five memorable Ashes series

The Fab Men

Two of the modern day Fab Four have to carry the weight of expectations once again, but under contrasting circumstances.

When Australia and England last met, in Australia in 2017-18, Steve Smith and Joe Root were the opposing skippers. Since then, Smith has been stripped of the captaincy and he is preparing for his first Test outing since being banned over last year’s ball-tampering incident.

Smith, like Warner subjected to some rough treatment from the English crowds during the World Cup, will feel he has something to prove. Averaging an eye-catching 61.37 in 64 Tests, with 23 centuries, Smith is still the main man for Australia and he scored a total of 687 runs when the teams last met, hitting three centuries in five Tests.

Root, on the other hand, had a much more productive World Cup than Smith and comes in to this series with plenty of confidence: as a player and as captain. But there is pressure nevertheless as he returns to No 3 in the batting order, a position he has been reluctant to take up.

Root’s Test average has dipped below 50 but he remains one of most feared players in the game and England’s finest batsmen, with 16 Test centuries under his belt. And the Yorkshireman is moving back up to number three to boost England’s struggling top order.

Since Root dropped a place during the India series last year, several options have been tried, including Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Denly. But none has settled the debate and now Root is ready to return to a position from which he scored his Test-best 254 against Pakistan in 2016. He has insisted that it has been his own decision to move back to No 3 and that he is in a position to separate his responsibilities as captain and batsman: but all it would take are a couple of wobbly displays at Edgbaston for doubt to creep back in.

It’s different for Smith, as Usman Khawaja is set to bat at No 3, having done so successfully in the former skipper’s absence. Whether Smith feels invigorated by returning to the longest format or bogged down by the pressure of playing at a new position, remains to be seen.

The Smith vs Root battle is off to some start already... and not a ball has been bowled.

English guile v Australian pace

England have a new weapon in paceman Jofra Archer but the key to their Ashes bowling attack will be veteran opening bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Anderson and Broad, with more than 1,000 Test wickets between them, lack the sheer pace to frighten batsmen but are masters of exploiting English conditions with swing. As such, England have left Archer out of the XI for the first match, given the Barbados-born pacer is still recovering from a side strain.

It will be entirely up to the old guard of English pace attack to take the limelight again after letting the white-ball specialists shine during the World Cup.

Australia, on the other hand, have a battery of fast bowlers who could inflict real damage on England’s fragile top-order.

“Australia have bowlers who can blast you away – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Josh Hazlewood,” said former England paceman Steve Harmison.

“But if they don’t get it quite right they can go at six an over. Broad and Anderson will very rarely go at six an over.

“They’ll be down on pace compared to the opposition, but they’ll have total control of what they’re doing.”

Australia are already considering leaving out Mitchell Starc for the opening Test and Cummins, who was the star bowler in a disappointing home summer before the World Cup, will be likely the go-to guy for Paine.

The difference in pace between the two sides was a big talking point during the previous series Down Under, with many pundits pointing out England’s lack of air speed being a crucial factor in their toothless bowling displays. But, with Archer’s addition to the squad and the difference in conditions in England, that will no longer be a differential.

Edgbaston Factor

Australia head into the first Test at Edgbaston determined to complete unfinished business as they look to end their long record without a win at England’s ‘fortress’.

You have to go back to the 2001 Ashes for the last time Australia enjoyed a a victory of any kind at the Birmingham ground. The hosts have lost one match in the last 26 years at the venue against the Aussies.

That winless streak across all formats at Warwickshire’s headquarters was extended to 15 matches when they lost to England in a World Cup semi-final earlier this month.

By contrast, England have won their last 11 internationals at the ground.

With England looking to regain the Ashes, and Australia not having beaten them on English soil in 19 years, Edgbaston appears to be the perfect venue for the series opener from the home side’s perspective.

Tim Paine joked that there were about 15 grounds around the world more hostile than Edgbaston but the records state otherwise. Given that the team winning the first match of the last four Ashes series has gone on to win the trophy, the first Test takes up massive significance.

And we cannot wait for action to get underway.