Now now Craigos, we are a little better than we were
Anyway, my marks out of 10 for our boys
Strauss - 7/10 - not convinced that he deserved his MOTS but well played, great to have a consistent Strauss back at the top of the order
Cook - 5/10 - disappointing
Vaughan - 7/10 - reasonable with the bat, and scores a couple for his bowling changes, which seemed to bring wickets about often enough.
Pietersen - 7/10 - not at his best, but scored runs when we really needed him to - I said when he came to crease on Thursday that there was no better man for the job and he didn't let me down
Collingwood - 3/10 - looked all at sea, scored the winning runs at OT but he needs to improve his form, and fast.
Bell - 3/10 - like Colly out there at the end at OT, but not out there much otherwise
Ambrose - 6/10 - Medicore with the bat except for his role in probably the partnership of the series. No clangers with the gloves.
Broad - 5.5/10 - Batted well but if you're batting at 8 then we want wickets, and he didn't take enough. If Flintoff is fit for South Africa there is simply no argument for picking Broad ahead of him, as Flintoff has five Test tons and as good a fast bowler as you will find anywhere; that being said I think Broad could have a good future ahead of him and I expect him to become one of our better ODI players
Sidebottom - 7/10 - Not the Sidebottom we saw in the antipodes but he had his moments, and 19 wickets at 20 is a fantastic return. He now has 5 5 wicket hauls, Steve Harmison took 50 matches more for just 8.
Anderson - 8/10 - not exceptional, as there were times when he was eratic as ever, but the inconsistency was less than it had been, and he had his best series in an England shirt. Without Anderson's brilliance, this series would not be over yet, 19 at 19 is a very good return.
Panesar - 7/10 - a quiet series for Panesar overall, but on the day that conditions favoured him, he turned the match, and with it the series. But for his day three performance at OT, this series would probably have been tied, if not won by the Kiwis. Will face a bigger workload as the summer progresses.