From a ‘seaming viper’ that got Travis Head, to the MCG’s two-day stinker: The best and worst of these Ashes

Worst collapse: England’s decline from 2-76 to 7-104 on the second afternoon in Perth made Head’s innings possible and ruined a winning position for the tourists in a series where they simply had to start well. Within that, the losses of Ollie Pope, Brook and Joe Root for zero runs in the space of seven balls turned the match and series on its head.

Best match: Sydney was an excellent way to round off the series on the best SCG pitch for years, but the lack of a live series dulled its impact somewhat. For that reason, the undulations of Adelaide take top billing, as England fought belatedly to keep the Ashes alive and gave Australia a few nervous moments on a fifth day that dragged out considerably longer than Pat Cummins would have liked.

Worst match: Melbourne’s two-dayer. Both the pitch and the batting were of low quality, depriving roughly 180,000 spectators of cricket and leaving a deflated feel to the holiday season. England got a win in Australia, but it wasn’t one to sing from the rooftops.

Best press conference: Not everyone will agree here, but Usman Khawaja’s 50-minute retirement chat was fearless, insightful and heartfelt. It was also pretty much the perfect length for a podcast.

Worst press conference: The assistant coaches never do well in these, and it’s hard to go past Marcus Trescothick insisting in Brisbane that England never discussed trying to avoid driving length balls in Australia, or Jeetan Patel telling the BBC in Adelaide, “I think the narrative of [the Ashes] being the series is everyone else’s story”. Cue an entirely logical rehash of every big statement made by England before the series, and there were many.

Biggest surprise: Head opening, and dominating. Khawaja’s back spasms made him the target of much criticism, but it was also the circuit-breaker to years of circular conversations within the team about whether Head should emulate David Warner. At his first attempt, Head carved three centuries and left England bereft about how to bowl to him. So much for the idea that he was too valuable at five to shift.

Best player: It has to be Mitchell Starc following his superb performance with the ball across five Tests and a couple of vital lower-order knocks with the bat. He has probably been the least-trumpeted of the “big three” quicks alongside Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, but that will no longer be the case.

Biggest disappointment: Brook. A huge talent who England have identified as their next leader, he flunked out on both fronts in Australia and also the New Zealand trip beforehand. Revelations that he copped a $60,000 fine for getting into an altercation with a nightclub bouncer the night before an ODI in which he was due to captain England summed up a fundamental lack of rigour to Brook’s attitude. He should lose the Test vice-captaincy over this.

Best and worst prediction: Anyone who suggested England would get the Ashes back is in the conversation here, but the best and worst calls arguably both belong to Steve Waugh, who finished up presenting the trophy.

His best: “I think the best fielding side will win the Ashes this year, so catching will be really important.”

And his worst: “I think it’s going to be one of the best Ashes series we’ve seen in a long, long time.”