The Ashes for 2010-11 have been won comprehensively by England. The one-sidedness of the contest is reflected in the final leaderboard for the Midwinter-Midwinter.
It’s the fourth time that I have made this award, and for the first time, it’s a tie. The joint winners of the 2010-11 Midwinter-Midwinter are Alastair Cook and Jimmy Anderson.
The outstanding batsman and bowler of the series finished in equal first place on 13 points, one ahead of Australia’s best player, Michael Hussey on 12. Coming fourth was Chris Tremlett, back on 8 pts. Hussey was the runaway leader at the halfway stage of the series, but earned no further points after his century in the Third Test at the WACA.
The Midwinter-Midwinter is the best on ground (BoG) award for the best player for both sides across the whole Ashes Test series. It is determined by me on the basis of deciding the three best players each day on a 3-2-1 basis. If a day is shortened for any reason (eg bad weather, end of game), then less votes will be allocated, either 2-1 or 1 only, depending on the number of overs bowled and the state of play. The prize for winning the Midwinter-Midwinter is the honour of being named the winner of the Midwinter-Midwinter. There is no actual trophy or medal.
The Midwinter-Midwinter is named for Billy Midwinter, who played for both Australia and England in Ashes competition in the 19th century, and was the subject of the sport’s most infamous poaching episode at the order of Dr WG Grace.
Past winners: 2005 – Shane Warne; 2006-07 – Shane Warne; 2009 – Graeme Swann.
Final points tally:
13 – Jimmy Anderson, Alastair Cook (England);
12 – Michael Hussey (Australia);
8 – Chris Tremlett (England);
7 – Tim Bresnan, Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott (England);
6 – Graeme Swann (England); Mitchell Johnson (Australia);
5 – Peter Siddle (Australia);
4 – Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen (England); Brad Haddin (Australia);
3 – Andrew Strauss (England); Michael Clarke, Simon Katich (Australia);
2 – Ryan Harris, Shane Watson (Australia);
1 – Paul Collingwood, Steve Finn (England); Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting, Steve Smith (Australia);
0 – Stuart Broad (England); Michael Beer, Doug Bollinger, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phil Hughes, Marcus North (Australia).
All up, England players scored 74 points to the Australians’ 40.
The day-by-day Twitter updates of the 2010-11 Midwinter-Midwinter can be found on my series Storify page.