Here is how we rated England’s players out of 10 after the 4-1 Ashes series defeat in Australia…
Jofra Archer – 6/10
Nine wickets across six innings at 27.11; best of 5-53
102 runs in six innings at 25.50; best of 51
Archer’s series ended early after a left side strain but he was one of England’s best performers to that point, demonstrating pace and hostility with the ball and showing up many of his team’s batters with a half-century in Adelaide and dashing 38 in Brisbane.
Archer received unfair criticism after his fiery last burst in the pink-ball Test, with many asking where that intensity was earlier in the game, but he bounced back with a five-for in the next Test when he removed three of Australia’s top five. Remains vital across formats.
Gus Atkinson – 4/10
Six wickets across six innings at 47.33; best of 2-28
73 runs in five innings at 14.60; best of 37
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Stuart Broad says England’s Gus Atkinson needs to work on his body language to complement his bowling
It was a frustrating series for Atkinson, who bowled better than his figures may suggest, missed the final match with a hamstring injury having been recalled for the fourth Test, and had his body language questioned by England great Stuart Broad.
Atkinson’s batting was also frustrating with his tame whip to midwicket in Brisbane one of the most irksome dismissals by an England player – and that is saying something! Like many of this squad, though, he looks set to play a key role over the coming years.
Jacob Bethell – 8/10
205 runs across four innings at 51.25, best of 154
One wicket across two innings at 68, best of 1-52
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Jacob Bethell claimed his first England Test hundred was ‘always coming’ after scoring 142 not out on day four against Australia in Sydney.
It has come later than many expected but Bethell is back as England’s No 3 and looks set for a long run after a maiden first-class century in Sydney that had pundits and fellow players purring – and people wondering why he did not start the series.
He was rather thrown to the wolves at the MCG after replacing the dropped Ollie Pope, asked to bat at first drop in front of 90,000-plus after playing so little first-class cricket over the last year. A knock of one was hardly surprising, then.
However, Bethell showed his class and composure in the second innings with 40 from 46 balls, albeit at No 4 after Brydon Carse’s surprise elevation, and then played stunningly at the SCG.
Harry Brook – 5.5/10
358 runs across 10 innings at 39.97, best of 84
A player of Brook’s calibre cannot be happy with a series average under 40 and no hundreds but only has himself to blame with daft strokes aplenty as the vice-captain both intoxicated and infuriated.
If Brook can learn when to rein things in and when to go bang – he need only look at Bethell and Joe Root’s Ashes tons for guidance – then we really do have a generational talent on our hands.
He realised it was right to attack at the MCG with the ball doing all sorts and his first-innings 41 was crucial in England’s victory there but he let himself down with his shot selection in key moments.
News Brook had been fined for a clash with a bouncer in New Zealand during a white-ball tour last autumn was another sour note.
Brydon Carse – 5/10
22 wickets across nine innings at 30.31; best of 4-34
99 runs across innings at 11; best of 39 not out
Carse ends the series as England’s leading wicket-taker but you would be hard-pressed to find someone who thought he was their best bowler. The Durham man is a real trier, always gives 100 per cent, but he was slow to find the right length and did not thrive with the new ball. The number of scalps he took flattered him, in truth.
Considering Carse had impressed considerably in New Zealand and Pakistan last winter, this was a disappointing series in Australia, with his economy rate north of 4.80 an over. Bar one knock of 39 not out, he was quiet with the bat, too.
Zak Crawley – 4.5/10
273 runs across 10 innings at 27.30, best of 85
After a pair in the opening Test at Perth – out twice to Mitchell Starc in the first over – the knives were out for Crawley but the batter did pretty well after that, hitting half-centuries in Brisbane and Adelaide and then a key 37 at the MCG to set England on their way to a successful chase of 175 on a bowler-friendly deck.
However, a poor SCG Test saw his average dip to 27 and he may need some early-season county runs to cement his place. You obviously want hundreds and a career average better than the low 30s for an opening batter to have played 60-odd Tests but when Crawley is good, you can see why such faith has been shown in him.
Ben Duckett – 3/10
202 runs across 10 innings at 20.20, best of 42
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
England captain Ben Stokes pledged support for the under-fire opener Ben Duckett after a social media backlash
Duckett’s tour will be remembered for the video that did the rounds of him seemingly drunk during a mid-series break in Noosa but things weren’t great for him on the field either as the struggles he encountered in the back end of the English summer continued.
The opener got some good deliveries but looked way off the player who had been a star of Bazball since returning to the team in late 2022, while he was guilty of a number of dropped catches too. England will hope Duckett can rediscover his mojo ahead of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka across February and March.
Will Jacks – 4.5/10
Six wickets in five innings at 53.66, best of 2-105
145 runs across seven innings at 20.71, best of 47
Jacks perhaps did not expect to play in four Tests having initially been picked as second-choice spinner but after showing some much-needed grit with the bat in Brisbane, and England opting to overlook No 1 spinner Shoaib Bashir entirely, he earned a longer run.
Jacks’ numbers with the ball tell a true story. He can bowl wicket-taking balls – he cleaned up Steve Smith with a gorgeous one on the final day at the SCG – but lacks control as it is not his main discipline.
There were handy cameos with the bat as well, plus a horrendous shot at the SCG that was real head-in-hands stuff, while his fielding went from the remarkable (a jaw-dropping one-handed catch to dismiss Smith at The Gabba) to the rancid (a howler of a drop at deep midwicket that reprieved Travis Head in Sydney).
Ollie Pope – 3/10
125 runs across six innings at 20.83; best of 46
As is often the case with Pope, he started a tour well before fading. His 46 in the first innings at Perth hinted he may finally crack it against Australia but after an lbw decision ended his knock on that occasion, he fell to a number of maddeningly soft dismissals, including while driving on the up, before he was axed for Bethell.
Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton feels there could be a Test future for Pope down the order in time, a place where his oft-skittish style may be better suited, but the former vice-captain looks set for a sustained absence from the team for now.
Matthew Potts – 2/10
No wickets across one innings, best of 0-141 from 25 overs
19 runs in two innings, best of 18 not out
Matthew Potts, The Ashes, England Test cricket (PA Images)
A chastening experience for Potts as he made his Ashes debut in Sydney.
The Durham man had not bowled for five weeks and was only playing due to injuries elsewhere – and it showed, as he leaked runs, struggled to find his length and became the latest seamer to be schooled by Travis Head. Not used second time around.
Potts gets a couple of marks for his score of 18 in England’s second innings, which looked like it could matter when Australia wobbled in a low chase of 160, but that is probably being generous. A real Test to forget after a series on the sidelines.
Joe Root – 7/10
400 runs across 10 innings at 44.44, best of 160
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain reflected on a great day for Joe Root during the second Test in Brisbane when he scored his first overseas Ashes hundred
Individual success, namely that first Ashes hundred in Australia, will mean little to Root with the Yorkshireman suffering a fourth successive series defeat Down Under but at least he has a win in the country at last thanks to the quick-fire victory at the MCG.
Root’s Brisbane ton was him at his best, dealing with the pressure and playing beautifully – and ending any danger of us seeing Matthew Hayden in the altogether to boot, while he was then masterful in Sydney while chalking up another ton – but he has had a quiet series around that with two ducks and a next highest score of just 39.
Root will turn 39 during the next away Ashes in 2029-30 but you wouldn’t rule him out playing in it – or overtaking Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar as Test cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer.
Jamie Smith – 4/10
211 runs across 10 innings at 23.44, best of 60
A tough tour for wicketkeeper-batter Smith, with his dismissal against the part-time seam of Marnus Labuschagne in the SCG finale dubbed ‘one of the worst ever seen’ as he got his execution and game management ever so wrong.
He never really got going with the blade, except for a half-century in Adelaide – often susceptible to the nip-backing delivery from the hosts’ seamers – and stuttered with the gloves at times, all while Australian counterpart Alex Carey shone across both disciplines
England did not help Smith by making his first game against a pink ball an Ashes Test match. That looks a real oversight. But there is a real asset there and perhaps a rest – he has been left out of the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and T20 World Cup – can clear Smith’s mind ahead of the home Tests against New Zealand and Pakistan.
Ben Stokes – 6/10
15 wickets across six innings at 25.13, best of 5-23
184 runs in 10 innings at 18.40, best of 83
Stokes was nowhere near his tactical best as captain in this series, something he has admitted, while he never really got going with the bat, bar a resolute 83 in Adelaide when he displayed all of his bloody-mindedness. If he had received more support on that front, this series could have turned out very differently for England.
Bowling-wise, he was excellent, carrying on his form from the summer. But should probably have come into the attack earlier in innings with some of his fellow bowlers bleeding runs. Wants to stay as captain and should, not only because of a paucity of options.
Josh Tongue – 8/10
18 wickets across six innings at 20.11, best of 5-45
15 runs across five innings at 5.00, best of seven not out
Tongue will leave Australia with his reputation enhanced, proving the pick of the England bowlers in the second half of the series. His fuller, more attacking lengths, awkward angle and ability to dismiss good players not only earned him 18 wickets in three Tests but also convinced England to name him in their T20 World Cup 15.
Tongue probably should have made his Ashes introduction earlier on. You sense he would have been a real handful in the Gabba day-nighter, a game in which England were largely awful with the ball. And he perhaps should have taken the new ball at stages, too.
Mark Wood – 2/10
No wickets across two innings
Four runs in two innings at four; best of four not out
Wood’s mark is so low because he only turned out once before the all-too-familiar occurrence of injury striking. It feels this one – a knee issue – could be the setback that ends an England career beset by them. That is such a shame for someone so likeable.
The Durham quick, 36, played his part in England rocking Australia with pace in the first innings at Perth but then struggled in the second as Travis Head blazed the hosts to a two-day victory. Wood will fight hard to return but, at his age, it looks a long shot.
