So ... now the series is done, anyone care to pick their combined Ashes team?
It's a strange one. England have come out of it with a 3-2 win, with Australia's batting having been woefully not up to the task during tests 3 and 4. And yet, statistically, Australia come out of it with the 3 best averages for top order batsmen.
I've had a look at drawing up an "on paper" team, completely ignoring how the games actually played out and just looking at the players' roles and their averages. What I've come up with has 7 Australians and just 4 from the English team, as follows:
Warner
Rogers
Smith
Root
Ali
Stokes
Nevill
M. Marsh
Broad
Lyon
Siddle
It's light on dedicated batsmen with just 4, but that's what happens when both sides have realistically struggled with the bat. Root with two hundreds . But when you look at the averages, Ali and Stokes edge out Bell, Bairstow, and Voges on the strength of their utility as extra bowling options. Cook misses out as his average was eclipsed by both the Aussie openers.
Tweaking that side above a bit to be a bit more flexible, and I can come up with a team that includes a better balance:
Cook
Rogers
Warner
Smith
Root
Stokes
Nevill
M. Marsh
Broad
Lyon
Anderson
In this instance, I'm ditching Ali in favour of Cook (similar average, Ali's spin not needed with Lyon's presence), and dropping Siddle (1 test) in favour of Anderson (3 tests and you'd have to believe that had Anderson remained fit he would have brought his average down by claiming a good portion of the wickets in the final two tests). Warner drops to #3 - where he's either an excellent pseudo-opener should either Cook or Rogers be out early, or an absolute beast coming in with a platform to launch off. Smith and Root both had up-and-down series but both made match-winning hundreds, so there's a pretty solid middle order there. Anderson and Broad take the new ball, with Marsh and Stokes the change bowlers and Lyon the spin option. Nevill edges Buttler on the grounds that Buttler didn't make enough runs.
Edit: I still feel slightly dirty including that many Aussies... You could argue dropping Mitch Marsh in favour of Siddle or Finn, but his average puts him amongst the best bowlers and he's a better bat than either of the alternatives.
It's a strange one. England have come out of it with a 3-2 win, with Australia's batting having been woefully not up to the task during tests 3 and 4. And yet, statistically, Australia come out of it with the 3 best averages for top order batsmen.
I've had a look at drawing up an "on paper" team, completely ignoring how the games actually played out and just looking at the players' roles and their averages. What I've come up with has 7 Australians and just 4 from the English team, as follows:
Warner
Rogers
Smith
Root
Ali
Stokes
Nevill
M. Marsh
Broad
Lyon
Siddle
It's light on dedicated batsmen with just 4, but that's what happens when both sides have realistically struggled with the bat. Root with two hundreds . But when you look at the averages, Ali and Stokes edge out Bell, Bairstow, and Voges on the strength of their utility as extra bowling options. Cook misses out as his average was eclipsed by both the Aussie openers.
Tweaking that side above a bit to be a bit more flexible, and I can come up with a team that includes a better balance:
Cook
Rogers
Warner
Smith
Root
Stokes
Nevill
M. Marsh
Broad
Lyon
Anderson
In this instance, I'm ditching Ali in favour of Cook (similar average, Ali's spin not needed with Lyon's presence), and dropping Siddle (1 test) in favour of Anderson (3 tests and you'd have to believe that had Anderson remained fit he would have brought his average down by claiming a good portion of the wickets in the final two tests). Warner drops to #3 - where he's either an excellent pseudo-opener should either Cook or Rogers be out early, or an absolute beast coming in with a platform to launch off. Smith and Root both had up-and-down series but both made match-winning hundreds, so there's a pretty solid middle order there. Anderson and Broad take the new ball, with Marsh and Stokes the change bowlers and Lyon the spin option. Nevill edges Buttler on the grounds that Buttler didn't make enough runs.
Edit: I still feel slightly dirty including that many Aussies... You could argue dropping Mitch Marsh in favour of Siddle or Finn, but his average puts him amongst the best bowlers and he's a better bat than either of the alternatives.