The Ashes: England cricket player ratings for series after 4-1 defeat to Australia extends wait to regain the urn

Here is how we rated England's players out of 10 after the 4-1 Ashes series defeat in Australia...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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 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.