Ten things we learned from the Ashes Ashton Agar salutes the crowd after scoring 98 in the first Test. LUCKILY for England they have won the Ashes. You'd hate to think what people would be saying about them had they lost. Australian players have been lining up to bag England's negative batting tactics and it's true any Australian fan who could watch Alastair Cook bat after midnight without nodding off has serious sleep issues. But the bottom line is this . . . if the final Ashes Test at The Oval finished in a draw this morning then England have been unbeaten in their past 13 Tests. Australia, by contrast, would not have not won any of their past nine. Which team would you rather be? Australia never likes playing for draws because we see ourselves as a nation of sabre-rattlers . . . better to loose in a sword-fight, we say, than raise the drawbridge and hide behind it. It sounds great in theory but England's fight when they are cornered actually shows more about their team spirit than when they win games. There is a certain old-fashioned charm about a grubby, bare-knuckled draw which cricket fans have always appreciated right back to the 1960-61 series between Australia and the West Indies when Queensland's Ken Mackay added an unbeaten 66 for the last wicket with Lindsay Kline to save the Adelaide Test. The Courier-Mail sports writers of that era were so moved by the performance they started a campaign called A Bob In For Slasher that invited readers to make a donation which they would pass on to bruised and battered Slasher Mackay who gratefully accepted a pool of several hundred pounds. Listening to Australian players constantly sniping at the Poms for their negative batting raises the question over whether these have fully grasped the nuances of Test cricket. This England team is not a great side. It belong in the realms of the very goods. But what it has consistently displayed is an ability to stay composed and read, ride and shape the rhythms of a Test match. Enland have all four gears and don't even mind sitting patiently in neutral with the handbrake on when they are caught in a hail storm. Australia, by contrast, can roar into fourth gear when the planets are aligned and they get stuck in reverse when the ball is swinging or spinning and their feet aren't moving. Here are 10 things we learnt from an Ashes series that has made for a mouth-watering showdown when the two sides meet in Australia this summer. ● That the pundits do occasionally get it right. The widespread feeling before the series was that Australia's bowlers would present the side with an opportunity to win Tests and the batsmen would probably not be good enough to take it. And so it proved. ● That funky selections can work. Chris Rogers was chosen as the left-hander from left-field and did an entirely respectable job. He deserves to be retained for the Australian summer but must find a way to handle off-spinner Graeme Swann who nabbed him six times. The selection of Chris Rogers was a gamble that paid off. ● That funky selections can create issues. All of Australia luxuriated in the miracle that was Ashton Agar's first Test 98 but the fairytale has turned sour since. He was dropped a Test later, sent home early because of illness and it will be interesting to see how he copes with such a bizarre hump in his learning curve. ● That veteran paceman Ryan Harris is truly world class. If only he was 23 not 33. Ryan Harris is a world-class operator. ● That England's top order is vulnerable when exposed to clever planning. Only Ian Bell regularly got away this series and will head to Australia feeling he has Australia's measure. Alistair Cook was muzzled after being starved of the cut and pull. Jon Trott was unsettled by two fieldsmen placed to stop the ball he tucks off his hip towards midwicket. ● That Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja have an uncertain future and Ed Cowan may have played his last Test. As promising as young James Faulkner is, he is a bowling allrounder who had never scored a first-class century before his Test selection. For him to be chosen ahead of three specialist batsmen was as much a sign of the selectors frustration levels with that trio as it was a vote of confidence in the youngster. The DRS was a blight on the Ashes series. ● That the Decision Review System is barely worth the trouble. It brings out some of the worst attributes of human nature - cheating, arrogance and insecurity were all on display in a series of madcapped reviews which embarrassed players and umpires alike. With teams averaging about one successful appeal in five we were left to wonder whether the game would be better served if the entire system was dumped in the Thames. ● That the confidence levels of modern umpires has fallen through the floor. You can see the tension levels rising within umpires like Aleem Dar when players send a decision he had made to the video umpire. New Zealand's Tony Hill was ground down by the system and was bereft of confidence well before his role in the series had ended. Nathan Lyon is not a world beater but needs to be picked. ● That Nathan Lyon is no world beater but in a team with more moving parts than a drunken go-go dancer he should play every Test. He was dropped for Agar despite taking nine wickets in his previous Test. Unfair. ● That England have probably peaked as a cricket side and Australia have plenty of potential to improve.