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Composite XIs are normally selected at the conclusion of a series, but seeing as England have already claimed victory and are sat in the clubhouse with the proverbial celebratory pint, you can have this choice earlier than planned.
Feel free to disagree, and here goes…
1. Chris Rogers
Few cricketers get to leave the main stage while playing as well as they have done in a national team shirt.
By far the pick of the Australian batsmen, Rogers has played almost a lone hand in conditions that have spooked most of his colleagues. Not everybody gets the opportunities that their career probably deserves but Rogers has made the most of his belated chance. Australia really won’t know what they’ve got until he’s said his farewells.
2. Alastair Cook
This position was a toss up between the England captain and the cricketer who couldn’t be any more a polar opposite – David Warner.
Aside from Rogers, Warner has coped reasonably well with the conditions and should really have added a few more to his tally. However Cook, for all the flak he took after the 2013-14 battering and subsequent fallout, is now in as string a position as he’s ever been. His batting has promised more than has been delivered but winning has to count for something.
3. Steve Smith
The number three position has offered something of a mixed bag. An excellent double-century for Steve Smith at Lord’s and a pair of accomplished half-centuries for Ian Bell at Edgbaston, both in winning causes.
Aside from that, Gary Ballance struggled and once the pitches livened up, Smith’s hyperactive method got found out to some degree. Still, 200 is 200 and please don’t go down the flat pitch route as nobody in the opposition could take similar advantage.
4. Joe Root
If Rogers was a shoo-in for a spot then Joe Root even trumped that.
Two sublime centuries, both of which helped to shape the game in his side’s favour, and other useful runs to boot, the Yorkshireman is the real deal. Twice the player who was seen down under 18 months or so ago, Root is delivering and doing it in some style. And he’s going to replace Cook at some stage.
5. Ian Bell
On the Australian side of things, number five has been a poisoned chalice. Michael Clarke has not even been able to imitate a shadow of the once high-class batsman and Adam Voges has looked out of both time and place. For England, Root made a hundred in Cardiff and Jonny Bairstow should have done the same in Nottingham. But Root’s already included and his Yorkshire colleague doesn’t warrant a place so Bell it is.
6. Ben Stokes
The cricketer England have craved since Andrew Flintoff called it a day, Stokes should have his position for as long as he can stay fit. Good enough to bat in the top six, especially with Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali behind him, and a dangerous fourth seamer, he adds the necessary balance. Some good runs early in the series and I doubt he’s ever bowled better than in the second innings at Trent Bridge.
7. Jos Buttler
If there has been a disappointment from the England angle it has been the form of Jos Buttler. Not with the gloves as his wicketkeeping is definitely improving but at number seven. A dangerous counter-attacker, his defensive technique against good pace bowling was found wanting. But for all that, I’d still include him over Peter Nevill who could become a solid international cricketer.
8. Mitchell Starc
While it would‘ve been some going for Mitchell Johnson to repeat his heroics of the last Ashes series, much was expected of his left-arm partner and, to a degree, he delivered.
As a rule, the Australians didn’t bowl as poorly as the scoreline would suggest since it’s a damn sight harder to operate when your batsmen aren’t doing their jobs. Good pace, swing and a handy lower order batsman.
9. Stuart Broad
If he looked off the pace during the World Cup, Broad was consistently the best seamer in the series by a distance.
Even at Lord’s, where the English attack got little change from the surface, Broad at least looked like getting the odd wicket. And given the situation and opposition, he’ll never come close to bettering his stellar Trent Bridge performance.
10. Nathan Lyon
If you are picking a spinner from Nathan Lyon and Moeen then it isn’t really a contest. The latter had his moments in the first Test but when required to bowl a significant amount of overs at Lord’s he was picked of comfortably. That he wasn’t made to bowl a lot more was a big failing on the Australians’ part.
As for Lyon, he was steady as she goes as he always is and all talk of England getting after him came to nothing.
11. James Anderson
James Anderson, when presented with the conditions Edgbaston served up, comes second to nobody and what the opposition would’ve given to be able to include a seamer of his ability.
Good in Cardiff, he was innocuous at Lord’s but more than made up for that once Clarke had decided to bat in gilt-edged seam-bowling conditions in Birmingham. I bet he thought Christmas had arrived early.