The Ashes officially start this Friday in Perth. However, realistically, it began when England captain landed in Australia on November 4, and a local publication used his arrival photos to weave a full-page story about 'cocky captain complainer' and 'dopey Bazball'.
Stokes said he was surprised how just the act of him landing at the airport could kick things off. But they did and now fans can't wait to see how England measure up to Australia's might.
It is going to a real challenge. Australia are the top ranked team in Tests and recently crushed India who had dominated in their backyard over the previous two visits.
Australia's pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood alone is enough to settle any Test series, making most other factors largely superfluous.
But ahead of the first Test, Australia will have more to worry about than the visitors, despite being two-time World Test Championship finalists and Ashes holders for a decade.
The problem is, Australia are beginning to fray at the edges. This is one of the oldest Australian squads ever assembled, with only one player below the age of 30 and the core of the squad close or above the age of 35.
To make matters worse, the Aussies will be without captain Cummins and pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood for the first Test. Australia pride themselves for ensuring their prime bowlers remain fit for the biggest assignments, but this time the law of averages have caught up.
So left-arm quick Starc will have to do the enforcing while also sharing the workload with Scot Boland, who has moved up from support cast to front-line act.
The absence of Cummins and Hazlewood is huge as England now only need to worry about 30-35 overs a day from the world-class Starc and Boland, and then look to take the initiative against the others.
The bigger issue, at least for the first Test, is leadership. Luckily, Australia have a proven world-class leader in their camp.
Smith in charge
Steve Smith did it all, was asked to leave, came back and returned right to the top. Smith saw his leadership role snatched away from him following the ball-tampering scandal of 2018. He came back into the leadership group a couple of years later, and soon started captaining Australia again in Tests and ODIs.
Some of captain Smith's assignments have slipped under the radar over the last few years. But not this time.
The leading batter of the Australian squad now has to hold the group together in a fast-changing battleground.
All of a sudden, England's pace attack, led by Jofra Archer and fit-again Mark Wood, looks sharper, younger and well staffed. Australian selector George Bailey admitted his team is getting on in age, but this is the best they can do.
Opener Usman Khawaja is in the final stretch of his career while Smith's successor Marnus Labuschagne has just fought his way back into the team.
It will be down to the broad bat and sturdy mind of Smith to keep the team on track, should things go out of hand.
People tend to forget that Smith is still in vintage form and delivering on the big stage; at the turn of this year Smith scored four centuries in five Tests.
Smith showed his champion mindset once again during the 50-over Champions Trophy in the UAE earlier in the year where he led a severely depleted Australian team to the semi-final against India and scored a superb half-century in exacting conditions.
Australia don't have many young players banging on the door, looking to force their way into the Test team. Which is why a reluctant Mitchell Marsh received multiple feelers about a return to the Test team.
The role of Smith as captain and main batter, therefore, becomes critical at the start of the series as Australia will aim to maintain the upper hand or, at the very least, not fall too far behind.
Australia are playing at home and are more than capable of managing with the available resources. Once Cummins and Hazlewood return, Australia will be almost unstoppable. Until then, it's Smith once again, standing between adversity and his team.
