Ashes 2017-18: our writers’ end-of-series awards

Best player

Steve Smith is a freak. To think he started the series with a supposed drought of international centuries having not raised the bat since March. This really is a special player we are watching. Adam Collins

Steve Smith, of course. There was an element of self-denial in his batting. He could have swashbuckled more but decided against. Instead he took great pleasure in exhausting and exasperating England. Vic Marks

Steve Smith, who eclipsed his opposite number and delivered a lesson to the England batsmen about putting a high price on his wicket. Only the good folk of Adelaide – where the ball moved – missed out on the Australian captain’s excellence. Ali Martin

Steve Smith – who else? The 28-year-old has taken his game to a new level, racking up Bradman-esque numbers in the process. He adapted to conditions superbly – illustrated by his fastest and slowest hundreds among the three he scored – and led from the front. Jason Gillespie

When he first played against England Steve Smith was dismissed as a joke. Now his run-scoring is ridiculous. The scale of his brilliance is demonstrated by one of the most used phrases of the series: “Behind only Donald Bradman”. Rob Smyth

Breakthrough player

What a lovely story Mitch Marsh is. Sure it took a while but he now has the game to match the belief. Well worth the wait. AC

Pat Cummins had played only five Tests in five years. Here he played five in seven weeks and made Australia’s bowling attack complete. VM

Dawid Malan arrived, with a maiden hundred in Perth and finishing with an average of 42.55. English tradition dictates we must now debate a move up the order. For Australia, Pat Cummins defied predictions superbly to get through the series. AM

Dawid Malan has demonstrated he has the temperament for Test cricket against as good a bowling attack as there is going around. JG

Dawid Malan emerged as this team’s Paul Collingwood: gritty, resourceful, adaptable and selfless. No England team should leave home without one. RS

Best match

We allowed ourselves to believe, for about 14 hours, that Adelaide was heading towards a classic finish. Annoyingly Australia’s bowlers decided otherwise. AC

There were no great matches. There was the glimmer of a contest when we turned up for the final day in Adelaide, whereupon England were swept away at the venue which gave them their best chance of victory. VM

Adelaide went into the fifth day with all four results still possible, even if it was quickly snuffed out in masterful fashion by Josh Hazlewood. But sadly, there was no classic to report on this tour despite 25 days of play across the series. AM

Adelaide, as the first Ashes day/night Test and being as close as we got to a thriller. Being an Adelaide boy, am I going to say anything different? JG

The joker of playing under lights at Adelaide led to umpteen plot twists and England were closer than the scorecard suggests to one of their greatest victories. RS

Best moment

Dave Warner’s dismissal that wasn’t on Boxing Day. It deserved to be debutant Tom Curran’s maiden scalp if he had not just overstepped. The roar of the crowd – first the Barmy Army then 88,000 locals in response – was something to savour. AC

Steve Smith’s brilliant catch at second slip to dismiss Dawid Malan in Sydney seemed to sum up how he controlled the entire series like a puppetmaster. VM

Mark Stoneman versus the quicks in Perth encapsulated the white heat of Ashes cricket but it was probably Mitchell Starc’s howitzer out of a crack that detonated James Vince’s stumps later in the same Test. Utterly unplayable. AM

When Pat Cummins removed Chris Woakes in Perth, caught behind for the wicket that reclaimed the little urn for Australia. JG

Nothing made the heart race with excitement like Mitchell Starc’s wonderball to James Vince at Perth. RS

One thing I would have changed

Scheduling. It continues to be a bad mistake having the two marquee Tests at Melbourne and Sydney played at the end of the series. They must be shuffled into the middle of the contest. AC

They are considering changing the schedule so that Melbourne and Sydney become venues for the second and third Tests in the series with the final one in Adelaide on Australia Day. Not a bad idea. And the pitch in Melbourne. VM

One thing I’d change would be the events during the early hours of 25 September in Bristol, which left a cloud over England’s tour off the field and damaged their team on it. AM

Remove the tactical use of the DRS. It was originally brought in to minimise the howler decision. Let’s empower the umpires and back them to make the right decisions. JG

The infantile, dishonest media coverage of non-stories like Jonny Bairstow’s social awkwardness and the supposed ball-tampering at Melbourne. Save that clickbait crap for football. RS

The 2019 Ashes will be...

When Australia get it together in England. They have struck gold with their fast-bowling trio and Steve Smith is the undisputed best player on the planet. Not a bad base from which to launch an Ashes campaign. AC

Closer because they take place in England. Fitness permitting the key men in the Australian team will still be around. That may not apply to the England side. VM

Played on emerald green pitches, probably, and provide England with some Ashes cheer after the inevitable semi-final meltdown in the World Cup that summer. AM

Australia’s for the taking. They have the bowling attack to capitalise on English conditions. England rely heavily on too few with bat and ball. JG

The last chance for the core of this Australian team to win a series in England and therefore, hopefully, a classic. RS