The decision to return, and stick with, a number of old faces paid dividends for coach Darren Lehmann and the Australian Test side in their 5-0 sweep of the 2013-14 Ashes series.
Man-of-the-Series Mitchell Johnson was the biggest revelation while delivering one of the finest Ashes performances in recent memory. He snared 37 wickets in the series, his high speed attack often reaching speeds that clocked the 150km/h mark.
Johnson’s fine play has moved him with striking distance of the illustrious Aussie 250-wicket club. Should his fitness see him through to the upcoming series against South Africa, Johnson is more than likely to nab the eight wickets needed to make him the seventh Australian bowler to reach the milestone.
Least surprised by the success of Mitchell Johnson is captain Michael Clarke.
“I hate to say I told you all so but I told you all so. Man of the series, who would have thought, except me and perhaps Mitch,” Clarke said, listing Johnson’s series alongside the achievements of some of the great contemporary Australian bowlers.
“I think he’s been an amazing bowler for a long time, no doubt about it, and his statistics show that.”
“The one thing a lot of people don’t understand is to be able to bowl at that pace is one thing, to be able to do it for five Test matches every single innings and continue to back it up it’s an amazing achievement.”
Gone for all money a year ago, Brad Haddin also revived his career with an outstanding series.
The keeper collected a total of 493 runs at an average of 61.62, capped off by stellar innings to help save the home side from a disastrous 5-97 in the first innings of the fifth Test in Sydney.
Haddin was unmatched in his first innings totals over the five Tests and scored the most runs in Ashes history for a batsman outside of the top six.
David Warner‘s Test career came under a ton of scrutiny in 2013, but the opener played a notable series to lead all batters with a total of 523 runs and an average of 58.11.
The bowling of Ryan Harris finally received some much needed attention when he claimed man-of-the-match honours in Sydney, taking eight wickets at the cost of just 61 runs.
His play saw him move up three places in the ICC Bowling Rankings to No.3 while Johnson also hit the top 10 by moving up three spots into eighth position.
Chris Rogers and Steven Smith took turns inflicting damage throughout the course of the series.
The 36-year-old Rogers netted back-to-back centuries in the second innings of the fourth and fifth Tests to jump up to a personal best 12th in the ICC batting rankings while Smith also bagged a couple of tons in Perth and Sydney to jump to No.21 on the rankings, an improvement of 20 spots.
Australia’s tour of South Africa kicks off on February 12 in Centurion.
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