5-0 it is then
My end of series rankings.
*Flintoff 4 - Bowled well, showed some form with the bat towards the end of the series. His performance was greatly hindered by his injury. Captaincy wasn't great but not as bad as others make out, he wasn't helped by some woeful bowling options.
Strauss 3 - Has probably been the disappointment of the series from our point of view. Only one 50 and a few other starts. He seems to have avoided a lot of criticism because of a few rough decisions but the ironic thing is that those bad decisions were coupled with some very poor shots.
Cook 4 - An excellent century and a few starts. He probably wasn't ready to face the nagging examination of McGrath and Clark but isn't hindsight wonderful. Disappointing how he got out in the same manner so many times but he'll learn.
Bell 5 - An encouraging tour but could have done better. Certainly wasn't helped by suddenly being thrown in at 3 when Trescothick left. He put the demons of last year to rest and played excellently at times. I don't have any doubts over Bell's ability but his vulnerability so early on and failure to convert those 50s asks other questions.
Pietersen 8 - Our best batsman and player of the series for us. Seemed like he was playing against them on his own sometimes. Should have been playing at 4 from the start and needs to learn to bat with the tail but apart from that, a great series for him.
Collingwood 6 - A double century, a 96 and the next best score of 28. A bit more consistency would have been nice but its hard to fault him greatly. Hes not the most talented batsman but if others had shown the graft and fight he has, then we certainly wouldn't be on the wrong side of a whitewash.
+Jones 3 - Average keeping and was woefully out of form with the bat. Shouldn't have been playing. Will rightly never play for us again.
+Read 5 - Immaculate with the gloves but really needs to score some runs if he wants to play for England. He may get another chance to play test cricket but he would be lucky.
Giles 4 - He should have never been playing ahead of Panesar but thats hardly his fault. I don't think he was that bad in his two tests which were on two really flat wickets and considering he hadn't played any FC cricket for a year! I wouldn't be surprised if he played for us again in next years tour of SL but he does need to play some decent cricket for Warwickshire before then.
Panesar 7 - Did better than I thought he would to be honest, he bowled well whenever called upon and was a bit unlucky. His 7 wickets in the third test was probably the highlight of the series for me. Improving in all areas and will be a very important player for us in years to come.
Hoggard 7 - Our best bowler for me, worked hard on some flat wickets was a threat even with the old ball and was quite unlucky.
Harmison 4 - Woeful first two tests but got better. Ironically the final spell was probably his best of the series! If he had come into the series with some sort of form then his figures would have been a lot better.
Mahmood 3 - he has a lot of things going for him does Saj. Good pace, can swing and is a great athlete. He isn't ready for test cricket though and shouldn't be learning his skills in an ashes series! Back to county cricket for a bit longer but by no means a lost cause.
Anderson 4 - Just came back from a serious spinal injury with a changed action and was thrown into an ashes series. Very bizarre. Showed a bit of form in the 5th test and I still think he'll become a decent test bowler.
Thinking about it, is it really much of a surprise that we lost 5-0? We had five quite inexperienced batsman, an all rounder who was recovering from an injury and had the burden of captaincy, two keepers put under a ridiculous amount of pressure by the indecision of the selectors, a few injured bowlers and a woefully out of form strike bowler
Oh and well played Australia
Their top players were on form while the additions of Hussey and Clark to the team eliminated any weaknesses that were apparent in 2005.
