2017-18 Ashes series player ratings: Australia

Australia have regained the Ashes in convincing fashion, finishing off England at the Sydney Cricket Ground to take a 4-0 series victory.

It’s been a dominating performance for Australia, but how has each individual player performed?

Let’s have a look with our player ratings.

Steve Smith (c): 10/10
Smith is currently the best batsman in the world and it wouldn’t be a stretch to call him the best since Don Bradman after an amazing Ashes series.

In just seven innings, he has racked up 687 runs at an average of 137.40 with three centuries and a half-century. His best knock came in Perth when he cracked 239, while his other centuries were in Brisbane and Melbourne.

The century in Melbourne wasn’t pretty, but it was a test of patience as he batted for more than a day to save the Test.

Outside of his centuries, he has made runs more often than not and captained the side well, rotating his bowlers nicely and staying on top of the game.

Just about the perfect series.

David Warner (vc): 8
Warner hasn’t been at his brilliant best, but he has been consistent. It seems being a senior player in the team during such a big series has forced Warner to play within himself at times, but then, so have England’s negative tatics with the ball.

At times he has looked scratchy and out of form, yet still finishes the series as the third highest run scorer with 441 at an average of 63, going past 50 in half of his innings and turning one of them (in Melbourne) into a century.

Even playing within himself, he still had a strike rate of over 50 and helped to bat England out of the match more than once, combining for a ten-wicket win in Brisbane to get the series off to a stunning start.

(Photo by Morgan Hancock/Action Plus via Getty Images)

Cameron Bancroft: 4
It’s been a pretty rough introduction to Test cricket for the Western Australian. He was picked after showing some stunning Sheffield Shield form at the start of the year, including a big double hundred against South Australia.

While he peeled off a 50 alongside Warner in the Gabba Test match alongside Warner for the ten-wicket win, Bancroft’s been poor since. In eight innings, he has scored just 179 runs. Take away the 82 not out in Brisbane and he only contributed 97 runs in seven innings.

That gives him an average of just 13.8, which isn’t good enough in anyone’s books. While he copped some bad luck with the run out in Adelaide which ruined any momentum he might have had, his spot for South Africa must be up in the air.

Jackson Bird: 2
It’s hard to get a read on what Bird might have really been able to do. He is Australia’s ever-reliable 12th man and came in for the Melbourne Test to replace an injured Mitchell Starc.

Bowling on the flattest track imaginable with absolutely nothing in it for the bowlers, he ended with the figures of 0 for 108.

Pat Cummins: 9
All of Australia’s bowlers were superb, but Cummins was a cut above in terms of overall performance. He was the real deal with the ball and backed it up with the bat, pushing his claim to become a genuine all-rounder in the Australian side.

With a tour to South Africa on the horizon, he could be Australia’s answer to Vernon Philander.

While there were times he bowled a little short, he played his role in the attack excellently, taking wickets in every innings and ending as the leading wicket-taker with 23 while also backing up with 166 runs at 41.5.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Peter Handscomb: 3
There was little argument against Handscomb being dropped from the side. While he scored some runs in the first two Tests, making a couple of starts, his technique was all over the place.

England had him figured out, which has been a rare thing for the tourists during this Ashes series. Handscomb will struggle to get his spot back for the tour of South Africa.

Josh Hazlewood: 8
Hazlewood seemed to bowl quicker than he usually does throughout the Ashes, but it didn’t have a great impact on his numbers. There were times early in the series when he wasn’t at his best, but he was consistent and ended the series with 21 wickets at 25.9.

He was excellent in tying down an end and some of the partnerships he was able to create with Nathan Lyon at the back end of the series ruined England.

Usman Khawaja: 6
Khawaja had an up-and-down series to say the least, but saved it with a huge century in the Sydney Test, scoring 171.

In his other seven innings, he went past a half-century twice, but looked scratchy every single time. The Sydney game was the first where Khawaja has looked like his usual self – the form which locked him in at No.3 during the last Aussie summer.

Even with the two other half-centuries, he often ruined the momentum of an established batsman at the crease – David Warner namely – and so it’s hard to up his score any more than six.

(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

Nathan Lyon: 9
Lyon was excellent throughout the series. While he took 21 wickets for the series at 29 and bowled 40 more overs than anyone else, it’s more than the raw numbers which defined his summer.

When he wasn’t taking wickets, he was keeping the runs down and consistently putting the tourists under pressure. It allowed Steve Smith to constantly hand him the ball and rotate his quick bowlers from the other end without added strain being placed on them.

While Cummins took the most wickets and the quicks roughed up the tail, none of it would have been possible without Lyon and the consistent way he bowled throughout the series.

Mitchell Marsh: 8
There was plenty of controversy surrounding the selection of the younger Marsh brother, but the selectors have been proven right on every occasion this summer.

Marsh was brought in to replace Peter Handscomb ahead of the third Test and while his bowling has been ordinary, that’s not the reason he was selected.

He scored 181 in Perth, ended up not out saving the Test in Melbourne and then scored another big century alongside brother Shaun in Sydney as Australia pushed for the 4-0 victory.

Marsh ended with 320 runs in four innings at an average of 106, which is an amazing return after seemingly not being on the radar at the start of the series.

Shaun Marsh: 9
If you had said before the summer started the Marsh brothers were going to be two of Australia’s best players, you probably would have been wheeled off to the looney bin.

With two centuries and another two half-centuries in seven innings, the older Marsh brother has cracked 445 runs at an average of 74.

It’s more than the statistics, though. He has scored runs when it’s really counted for Australia. Whenever they have needed a score, he has made one and in doing so has booked his spot on the plane to South Africa. One of Australia’s best.

(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Tim Paine: 7
Another one who was under the hammer after being selected. He hadn’t hit a first-class century in years and wasn’t even keeping for Tasmania at the start of the summer.

He replaced Matthew Wade in the side and has been superb with gloves and bat. He has scored runs when needed, ending with 192 runs at 48 and 26 dismissals. Hasn’t put a foot wrong.

Mitchell Starc: 8
Starc only played four Tests, sitting out Boxing Day with a heel injury, but he was absolutely sensational for the most part.

While he battled with footmarks in Brisbane, there was a point early in the series when he was almost keeping pace with Mitchell Johnson’s epic 2013-14 series which yielded 38 wickets.

In the end, Starc fell well short of that mark, taking 22 at 23.54, but you couldn’t fault him. His pace and bounce had the English order all over the place throughout the series.