Jonhenry Wilson separates the men from the boys at the conclusion of five gruelling Tests between England and Australia...

1. Shane Watson
Matches: 3, Runs: 240, Ave: 48.00, HS: 62, Wkts: 0, Ave: n/a, BBI: 0/23
Watson had it all to do when drafted into the Test team ahead of the stunted 'next Matthew Hayden' (aka: Phil Hughes) and managed to find enough form to get from Edgbaston to The Oval without much question over his place in the side. Despite insistence that he would eventually convert a good start into a maiden Ashes century (this after three half-centuries on the trot and a 90-odd against the English Lions), the newfound opener never did get to that three-figure hope. Falling lbw no less than four times out of five visits to the crease suggests Watson's technique is still far from seeing him graduate from stopgap role to full-time opening partner to Katich. His bowling, meanwhile, continues to take a beating and his batting transformation may leave the 28-year-old wondering whether to persist with his all-rounder ambitions.

2. Andrew Strauss
Matches: 5, Runs: 474, Ave: 52.66, HS: 161
While Ponting the skipper and Ponting the batsman puckers up to the firing line, Man-of-the-Series Strauss is sitting pretty on both fronts. From the captain's knock that saw the hosts draw first blood of the series at Lord's to his handling of the innings defeat at Headingley, Strauss has shown the English media and fans that the team does extend beyond Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen and, given the right leadership, a couple of South African expats, some leftovers from the 2005 Ashes and a token bloke from Warwickshire can beat the so-called mighty Australians.

3. Ricky Ponting
Matches: 5, Runs: 385, Ave: 48.12, HS: 150
How different this section could have read were Jonathan Trott picked earlier in the series, but for his reliability (if unspectacular) role at first drop for Australia, Ponting gets the nod. Although it was all downhill after his 150 at Sophia Gardens, the visiting captain did manage to finish with a series average just shy of 50 and may well have staved off the inevitable for one extra sleep were it not for Sunday's run-out. He ultimately failed to weigh in with hefty knocks when they were needed most and returns home with the ignominy of being Monty Panesar's one and only wicket of the series.

4. Michael Clarke
Matches: 5, Runs: 448, Ave: 64.00, HS: 135, Wkts: 1, Ave: 75.00, BBI: 1/12
The Aussie vice-captain proved the most fluent of the lot and made the cover drive look like mere child's play when Graham Onions and company over-pitched. His 136 in the losing cause at Cricket HQ rates as one of the greatest Ashes knocks of recent decades and while Dean Jones' hopes of Shane Warne giving retirement the finger and returning to captain Australia are utterly farfetched, Clarke can look forward to an interview should the powers-that-be get drastic and sideline skipper Ponting.

5. Marcus North
Matches: 5, Runs: 367, Ave: 52.42, HS: 125*, Wkts: 4, Ave: 51.00, BBI: 4/98
Years of pelting state sides to all corners has finally paid off for the 30-year-old Victorian, typified for the most part by his part in the draw forced in Birmingham. North seems at complete ease with the international scope and has all the time in the world when it comes to facing the fast bowlers. And to think it was he that might have made way for Watson's inclusion. Reeks of the time Brad Hodge nearly got the chop after scoring a double-century against India, really. Such is the immensity of talent Down Under.

6. Andrew Flintoff
Matches: 4, Runs: 200, Ave: 33.33, HS: 74, Wkts: 8, Ave: 52.12, BBI: 5/92
The fact that the innings-and-80-run hiding in the fourth Test came to a Flintoff-less England says a lot about the man's stature. The fact that they were arguably prepared to play him in the fifth regardless of his fitness says that much more. 200 runs at 33.33 and eight wickets at 52.12 a pop isn't exactly the stuff required of a topflight all-rounder, but England will have taken what they could get from the ankle-knee-back-plighted Lancastrian. It's over to Broad from here on in.

7. Brad Haddin
Matches: 4, Runs: 278, Ave: 46.33, HS: 121, Cts: 15, Sts: 0
The 'next Adam Gilchrist' he professes not to be and arguably never will become, but Haddin's role with the bat this series stood head and shoulders above that of his contemporary Prior and a string of Australia's middle-order men. While his 121 at Sophia Gardens merely hopped on a well-proliferated bandwagon (Australia: 674 for six declared, four centurions), it was his steely 80 in partnership with Clarke at a pressure-riddled Lord's that showed Haddin has it in him to be more than a run-of-the-mill wicketkeeper than can bat a bit. His glovework, though tainted by a half-crocked finger, did its job in exemplary fashion.

8. Graeme Swann
Matches: 5, Wkts: 14, Ave: 40.50, BBI: 4/38, Runs: 249, Ave: 35.57, HS: 63
Finally, an England spinner with some spunk! Thankfully not in the Ashley Giles mould, Swann knows not of the defensive role so incorrectly, inherently ingrained in English spinners of old and made Australia's lack of a quality turner appear that much more obvious. After putting in the unrewarded hard yards in the opening Test, it was Swann's four-for that ended the Clarke-Haddin resistance at Lord's before more of the triumphant same pretty much upstaged Broad at The Oval. He is England's spin ace and, until England head to the sub-continent again, Panesar's goose is cooked.

9. Stuart Broad
Matches: 5, Wkts: 18, Ave: 30.22, BBI: 6/91, Runs: 234, Ave: 29.25, HS: 61
The lanky pace ace from Nottinghamshire took a while to warm to his task (there was a while there when his ongoing contribution with the bat saved his bacon as a bowler), but after limbering up with a six-for at Headingley, he effectively sealed the deal with a five-wicket haul of series-defining proportions on day two at The Oval. Amidst James Anderson and Monty Panesar's batting heroics at Cardiff, Andrew Flintoff's Lord's haul and Peter Siddle's decimation of England in Leeds, few will forget Broad's second-session feat that thrashed through the Aussies that Friday afternoon.

10. Peter Siddle
Matches: 5, Wkts: 20, Ave: 30.80, BBI: 5/21, Runs: 91, Ave: 18.20, HS: 35
Few would have backed Siddle to pip Mitchell Johnson in the wicket-taking stakes at the start of the series. As it is the Victorian and the Queenslander finished on level pegging with 20 scalps apiece. However, it was Siddle who showed consistency throughout and rightly started taking the new ball ahead of his team-mate as Johnson's approach increasingly tended toward the hit-or-miss inclination. Stepping into the international fold out of relative obscurity, Siddle has stepped up in a big way and might just put an end to Australia's near obsession with Brett Lee's pending comeback.

11. Ben Hilfenhaus
Matches: 5, Wkts: 22, Ave: 27.25, BBI: 4/60, Runs: 40, Ave: 20.00, HS: 20
A perennial squad member for so long and only ever picked if a senior fast bowler copped an injury or needed a break, Hilfenhaus has finally claimed a senior role with pertinent swing bowling that saw him finish the series top wicket-taker (22). Deprived of a five-for at Edgbaston and Headingley, the unassuming Tasmanian bowled the most overs (180-odd) across the five Tests by a long shot and can feel rightfully aggrieved not to have bagged Australia's Man-of-the-Series accolade, which went to batsman Clarke.

Jonhenry Wilson