'England, keep creating chaos but please pick your moments'

In terms of something to light the Ashes fuse, we could not have asked for more than what we got at Edgbaston.

Australia's gripping two-wicket victory was one of those classic Ashes Tests - up there with the Headingley matches of 1981 and 2019 and the epic in Birmingham in 2005.

Someone had to lose and someone had to leave victorious. This time it was Australia's turn to win a tight one.

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England captain Ben Stokes did little wrong on the final day.

His field placings were excellent. As the game got tight in that final hour, he was right not to take the new ball right away, despite only two wickets being needed and Australia still having 54 to get.

He was rewarded with Carey's wicket - Joe Root taking that incredible return catch - but at that point I would have taken the new ball.

Stokes waited 4.3 overs, in which time Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon crucially scored 27 runs, clearly thinking that the harder ball would have raced away for quick runs.

It is easy to reflect on a decision like that in hindsight. Stokes got far more right than he got wrong.

For Cummins and Lyon to play like that, in front of the baying Hollies Stand and with all of the pressure on their shoulders, was a superb effort.

It will deflect criticism from how they played the rest of the match because Cummins striking Root for two sixes at the start of that stand was the first time they took the initiative all game.

They had fielders on the boundary from the outset and must change that when we get to Lord's next Wednesday.

For England, well, we know exactly what they will do. They will continue to attack and keep playing the same way.

My big hope is that they keep creating chaos but just pick their moments to do so.

I define Bazball, if you want to call it that, not by the big shots but the psychological impact on the match.

It is like the big rock thrown into the tranquil pond.

So much of cricket is formulaic. When a team comes out to bat or bowl, you almost always have a pretty good idea of what your opposition is going to do.

Bazball changes that. We have seen it work for more than a year now and we did so again in this Test.

We have seen bowlers looking at the feet or hands of England batsmen because they are not sure if they are going to come down the pitch or ramp the ball over their head.

England's opponents get distracted. They look to their captain for leadership and he doesn't know either. He has not experienced this before.

But what England need to do is use that chaos to create further damage by picking off the runs and driving home the advantage.

When they have achieved the initial goal, take the professional approach - the hard-nosed approach of winning game.

In the second innings at Edgbaston, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow were both guilty of winning that first battle but then throwing their wicket away when the runs were at their mercy.

Root tried to hit Lyon over deep mid-wicket when he had pushed the field back. Bairstow had done the same before he was out playing a reverse sweep.

Do England want to be entertaining losers or winners? You cannot be entertaining all of the time.

I think we all know the answer. Everyone wants to win.

That said, I will not sit here and criticise Stokes' early declaration on day one.

As someone who played three-day cricket in the 1980s, I could see exactly what he was trying to do. He trying to be positive, seeing an ideal chance to pick up a wicket or two when the Australians were tired after a day in the field.

It did not work. Maybe a few more runs would have been the way to go, looking back, but I am certainly not going to condemn him.

I remember criticising former England captain Andrew Strauss for batting on, sending James Anderson out to bat half an hour before lunch rather than declaring in a Test.

Having been critical then, I can hardly be so again now.

In the run-up to Lord's next week, there will be a lot of talk around Bairstow's place in the side.

You cannot hide the fact he made mistakes as wicketkeeper in this match - the miss of Usman Khawaja late on the fourth day was obviously particularly crucial, given the role the Australian played in blunting the attack a day later.

Bairstow will hope to perform far better with the gloves at Lord's and I would still retain him in the team.

He brings so much with the bat. It is always a balance you have to weigh up.

Moeen Ali will have to get that injured finger right and, if the pitch is going to be as slow as the surface in Birmingham, Mark Wood has to come into contention. I know he is raring to go.

England have shown enough positives this week.

If they can get over the line in London, we could be on for quite a summer.

Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's Matthew Henry.