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Following Australia’s 4-0 thumping of England in the Ashes, here are my player ratings from the five-Test series.
Steve Smith – 10/10
687 runs at 137 from five Tests
One of the all-time great Ashes series by a batsman. England were reduced to kooky bowling strategies and field placements from the first Test onwards in a forlorn attempt to reduce his impact.
Pat Cummins – 9.5/10
23 wickets at 24, plus 166 runs at 41 from five Tests
Cummins is now neck-and-neck with South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada as the world’s best Test cricketer aged under 25. As I wrote nine months ago, Cummins is the rarest of Test pacemen – a genuine strike bowler who can physically intimidate batsman while also being frugal.
To be the lead wicket taker of this series in his first Ashes, while also batting extremely well, is a phenomenal performance.
Nathan Lyon – 9/10
21 wickets at 29 from five Tests
Bowling spin in Australia is a hell of a task, as England’s Moeen Ali and Mason Crane discovered this summer. While that pair combined for six wickets at 128, Lyon took 21 at 29. Beyond his wicket haul, Lyon was extremely frugal, conceding just 2.36 runs per over, which offered tremendous control to his skipper.
Mitchell Starc – 9/10
22 wickets at 23 from four Tests
Starc consistently made breakthroughs at key moments, as he has done for the past three years. When the series was there to be won, in the first three Tests, Starc was dominant, hauling in 19 wickets.
Josh Hazlewood – 9/10
21 wickets at 26 from four Tests
Hazlewood has always been an accurate, consistent and economical bowler. This series he added a generous dose of menace into that mix. Hazlewood has found an extra 5kmh of pace and was regularly just as sharp as Starc and Cummins.
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Shaun Marsh – 9/10
445 runs at 74 from five Tests
Marsh was a reassuring presence in the Australian middle order and played crucial knocks under pressure in the first innings of both of the first two Tests, before cashing in with a big ton in Sydney.
Mitch Marsh – 9/10
320 runs at 107 from three Tests
An astonishing return to Test cricket by the burly all-rounder. Has great improved his defence and also his versatility as a Test batsman.
Tim Paine – 9/10
192 runs at 48, plus 26 dismissals from five Tests
It is gobsmacking that just two months ago Paine couldn’t even get a Sheffield Shield game for Tasmania. Now he’s just completed the most impressive series by an Australian Test wicketkeeper since Brad Haddin’s standout effort in the 2013-14 Ashes. Paine kept wonderfully and looked calm and confident every time he batted.
David Warner – 8/10
441 runs at 63 from five Tests
The bullish opener didn’t have a major impact while the series was alive in the first three Tests. But his teammates and coaches would be delighted by the greater patience and maturity he displayed with the blade across the series.
Usman Khawaja – 4.5/10
333 runs at 48 from five Tests
Khawaja returned to form in a big way in the fifth Test as he cracked 171. But he was poor across the first four Tests, averaging just 27 with the bat.
Cameron Bancroft – 3/10
179 runs at 26 from five Tests
Bancroft’s second innings of his Test career was a cracker, making 82* in what easily could have been a tricky chase of 170 in the first Test at Brisbane. Since then, however, he’s had his technique picked apart by the English quicks. It seems unlikely Bancroft will keep his Test place for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
Peter Handscomb – 2/10
62 runs at 21 from two Tests
Like Bancroft, Handscomb’s technique failed him. By the end of his Ashes stint he was batting in a tragically comical fashion, moving all around the crease and attempting to shovel the ball across the line to the leg side.
Jackson Bird – 1/10
Zero wickets from one Test
The tall seamer had comfortably the worst Test of his career at Melbourne, when drafted in as a replacement for the injured Mitchell Starc. Bird bowls at a gentle pace and does not swing the ball much anymore, which means he simply must be accurate to be effective. Normally he is, but at the MCG he wasn’t.
Dawid Malan – 8/10
383 runs at 43 from five Tests
Unlike batting colleagues Joe Root and Alastair Cook, Malan flourished while the series was still alive. With a solid technique, good range of shots and most importantly a great temperament, Malan has the makings of a long-term player for England.
Jonny Bairstow – 7/10
306 runs at 34, plus 11 dismissals from five Tests
Bairstow had a flat end to the series, but I give far more weight to performances in the first three Tests, when the series was on the line, and Bairstow was one of the few Englishmen who stood up in this time. His 119 at Perth was a fantastic knock and his keeping was decent across the whole series.
James Anderson – 7/10
17 wickets at 28 from five Tests
Anderson earned new admirers in Australia thanks to his persistence across five Tests on some dead tracks. But in the end he has to be judged more heavily on his results than his effort and, similar to Root and Cook, when the series was there to be won, Anderson’s influence was minimal. He took just 3-151 across Australia’s first three innings of the series and, by the time he grabbed a five-wicket haul, in the second innings at Adelaide, the hosts were already miles ahead in the Test.
It was a similar story at Perth, where he went wicketless as the Aussies cantered to 550, before grabbing four cheap wickets as they sprinted towards a declaration.
Craig Overton – 6.5/10
Six wickets at 38 from two Tests
Similar to Mark Stoneman and Tom Curran, Overton showed great spirit in his limited appearances. The 23-year-old did not look overawed, whether bowling or batting. He also revealed significant talent in both departments. England should invest heavily in him.
Joe Root – 5/10
378 runs at 47 from five Tests
The most important stat regarding Root is this: when the Ashes were up for grabs, he flopped, averaging just 29 with the bat across the first three Tests. His three consecutive fifties over the final two Tests was a case of too little, too late.
Alastair Cook – 4/10
376 runs at 47 from five Tests
The former English skipper had yet another forgettable Ashes, his sixth poor series from seven against Australia. His 244* at Melbourne was a grand knock, but what matters far more is that he was feeble when the series was alive, averaging just 14 across the first three Tests.
James Vince – 4/10
242 runs at 27 from five Tests
Vince did something Cook did not – he made a decent score while the series was still alive. Two in fact – 83 in the first innings at Brisbane and 55 in the second dig at Perth. Regardless, it looks like his Test career has hit the skids due to the infuriating manner in which he consistently wastes good starts by fishing outside off stump.
Mark Stoneman – 4/10
232 runs at 26 from five Tests
Stoneman seems to have been badly affected by copping a nasty knock to the head from a Josh Hazlewood bouncer at Perth. Since then he has hung back in his crease and been a sitting duck for the Australian quicks. That is a great pity because he showed good skill and verve prior to copping that blow. But he’ll get over that incident and is worth sticking with.
Chris Woakes – 2.5/10
Ten wickets at 50, plus 114 runs at 16 from four Tests
One of several England players to land in Australia with bloated reputations only to be found out. Woakes didn’t bowl terribly – it’s not as if he was spraying the ball all over the pitch – he just posed very, very little threat.
Stuart Broad – 2.5/10
11 wickets at 48 from five Tests
The worst series of Broad’s storied career. His enormous strike rate of 106 reflects just how easily the Australian batsmen countered him.
Tom Curran – 2/10
Two wickets at 100 from two Tests
I loved Curran’s feisty, confident attitude whether bowling or batting. Unfortunately he doesn’t yet have the attributes required to be a good Test bowler. He is short, bowls at a gentle pace in the 130-135kmh range, barely swings the ball and doesn’t get much bounce. Curran looks better suited to limited overs cricket thanks to his clever changes of pace.
Mason Crane – 2/10
One wicket at 193 from one Test
Crane is outrageously talented for a 20-year-old wrist spinner, but no leggie should be playing Tests at that age, unless they have a very good first-class record – which he doesn’t. Wrist spin is the most difficult skill in the game and takes years to master – the world’s best Test leggie, Yasir Shah, was 28 by the time he made his Test debut.
Moeen Ali – 2/10
Five wickets at 115, plus 179 runs at 20 from five Tests
Moeen arrived in Australia with some English pundits bizarrely predicting he would have a big impact on the series with both bat and ball. While there was a chance his free-flowing batting could be suited to Australian conditions, his ordinary off spin was always going to be clattered.
Jake Ball – 1/10
One wicket at 115 from one Test
If you need any evidence of England’s woeful bowling depth, just consider the fact Ball has somehow played four Tests for them. The lanky right armer has poor control and if he were Australian, would be a fringe State player. In four Tests he has taken just three wickets at an average of 114.