The Ashes 2025: Steven Finn on what it’s like to tour Australia as an England player

In the first Test of 2010 we conceded a first innings deficit of 211 runs. 35,000 Australians were stomping their feet in the vast concrete stadium, howling for British blood in a parade towards another Australian victory.

Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott fought back the noise to amass 517-1 in our second innings. The exam ended in a draw, but we felt like we won.

You could feel the discourse towards us changing. The people who were so happy to tell us that we were going to disappear were slowly starting to say that they respected the way we fought and that they liked to see the competition.

Planning is important, but living in the moment is also important. On many occasions England teams have traveled to Australia with pre-prepared ideas about the conditions they will encounter.

It is very important to read the conditions and be able to adapt. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2010, England bowling coach David Saker was a firm believer that the way to win a Test was to bowl first.

We beat Australia by 98 runs and won by one innings. Being bold in decision-making will benefit Britain.

Finally, luck is also a big part of being successful in Australia.

In 2010, Australia were without a set-spinner, there were question marks about the late-career great Ricky Ponting and uncertainty about their bowlers.

Australia selected a 17-man squad for the first Test; that was more players than we had on our entire three-month tour of the country. Catching Australia in a transition period could be critical.

On this occasion, injuries to Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood gave England the opportunity to face an Australian team where cracks were beginning to appear for perhaps the first time since 2010.

There are many challenges that come with playing on and off the field in the Ashes away series.

The stars may be lining up for England to achieve real success in winning in Australia for the first time in 15 years.