Ranking the Players in the England Team in Order of Importance Right Now

Following England’s sealing of the Ashes series with victory over Australia at Chester-le-Street on Monday, we identify the most important players currently in the team—and highlight those who will now be looking over their shoulders as we get ready for the return contest Down Under later this year.

Despite the fact that Alastair Cook’s men may at present be holding an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, the scoreline is actually papering over a number of cracks in the hosts’ setup.

Based on the last four Tests of the summer, certain players are now of far greater value to the team’s success than others.

So here is how we have ranked the players in the England team in order of importance, starting with the least crucial…

11: Jonny Bairstow

With only 203 runs and just the one half-century from his seven innings so far against Australia, serious question marks have been raised about the 29-year-old Yorkshireman's future place in the team.

You would have to say that, on present form, Bairstow has the most to worry about amongst all the England players looking ahead to the return series Down Under.

However, a maiden Test century at the Oval next week would soon change that perception…

10: Tim Bresnan

Harsh, perhaps, but don't forget that "Bressie Lad" is in the side first and foremost to take wickets, with whatever runs he can garnish down at No. 8 simply a bonus.

In that respect, while 10 wickets at 29 from his three Tests against the Aussies so far this summer are more than respectable figures, you do wonder how a Chris Tremlett, or a Graham Onions say, would be faring against the tourists’ brittle batting lineup right now.

9: Joe Root

Going into the series, Root was England’s wonderkid, the new Mike Atherton and a future Test opener for years to come.

But although 260 runs at 37 currently places the 22-year-old second in the series averages—while he has also picked up more wickets than Steven Finn—stats can be misleading even at the best of times.

Remove the Yorkshireman’s second-innings 180 at Lord’s—when he should have been caught behind when still in single figures—and those numbers would look a less impressive.

Plus, can anyone really argue that Nick Compton would not have scored more runs at the top of the order against Australia than Root has done so far this summer?

8: Matt Prior (WK)

At the start of the year, the Sussex stumper would have been ranked as England’s most important player without doubt, especially as he is in effect an all-rounder, thanks to the two vital roles he performs in the team.

Yet ever since the 31-year-old was voted England Player of the Year for 2012, Prior’s form—both behind the stumps and with bat in hand—has returned to his nadir of 2007.

Sacrilegious to say, perhaps, but how key a member of the team is the wicketkeeper looking at present?

7: Stuart Broad

Still an unbelievably vital team member, the Notts all-rounder can go for long spells in a series without threatening much with the ball.

Yet there is always a devastating spell of fast bowling just around the corner, as we saw once again at Durham on Monday.

And that is what makes any assessment on Broad a hazardous business as he really can transform himself from innocuous seamer one day to being the reincarnation of Curtly Ambrose the very next.

Of course, if he produced more of the latter, then he would probably be considered England’s most important player because of the lower-order runs he can often garner, too.

6: Jonathan Trott

Jonathan Trott is another, like Prior, who would have been considered as one of—if not the—most important batsmen in the England lineup before the start of the Ashes.

However, after just 194 runs at only 24 so far against Australia, the South Africa-born batter’s comparative value to the side is waning fast.

5: James Anderson

Odd certainly for the Lancashire swing bowler’s name not to be appearing at the head of this list but that is the fickle nature of top-level sport and, in particular, cricket.

Just four Tests ago, Anderson produced match figures of 10-158 against Australia, single-handedly inspiring England to the narrowest of wins in the opening match of the Ashes.

Now, just a month later, the 31-year-old can barely buy a wicket.

4: Alastair Cook (C)

The man who scored an incredible 766 runs at an average of 127—including three centuries and two half centuries in the last Ashes series in Australia in 2010/11—has not found runs so easy to come by on home soil.

In fact, the skipper has amassed just 218 to date, with not a century in sight, and it appears as though the opener has returned to the bad old days of the worrying summer of 2010 when—ridiculous as it sounds now—Cook was on the verge of being dropped from the team.

3: Kevin Pietersen

Whatever you may think about the No. 4’s antics off the field—and boy, there have been many—no one can possibly argue about his importance to this current England team on the field and to the success they are currently enjoying.

In fact, ever since KP was brought back into the fold against India in Ahmedabad last year, England have lost just that Test, while some of the innings the batsman has played in that time have been truly breathtaking.

And the real value of Pietersen to the present team is the speed at which he makes those runs, giving the bowlers so much time to finish the job with the ball.

2: Graeme Swann

The off spinner has once again proved his huge value to England during this current series with Australia.

Swann has essentially been the main difference between the two teams, so much so that were you to swap the respective spin bowlers on each team, then the result could very well now be 3-0 to the tourists.

And you really know the mark of a key team member when he is absent from the side, as Swann was in New Zealand earlier this year. Cook’s men looked almost impotent in trying to bowl the Kiwis out, with Swann’s replacement, Monty Panesar, providing a poor imitation of the Notts tweaker.

1: Ian Bell

"The Duke of Bellington" has really come of age against Australia this summer, scoring an eye-catching 500 runs at 71 so far, with one Test match left to play.

However, it is the nature of those runs that has been the most impressive aspect of Bell’s game so far, with his three match-winning tons each coming with England under huge pressure on tough pitches to score on.

To think that just a short while ago, the 31-year-old was being heavily criticised for not making centuries when his team needed them most.

Now he is England’s most important player, bar none, especially as it is the batsmen who lay the foundations for victories later on by putting big totals on the scoreboard for the bowlers to work with.

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