Andrew Flintoff. In June, he told us that he was not interested in averages, but in being able to turn a match. He did it eight times in the Ashes series and ended up changing the course of sporting history, bursting football’s bubble and making cricket a game of the present, not the past.

JOINT BEST PLAYER

Michael Vaughan. He is not even shortlisted for the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Year, but he did as much as anyone to win the Ashes. England took 89 Australian wickets and Vaughan had a hand in every one. When the wheels were coming off at the Oval, Vaughan revved up Steve Harmison, who bowled one over of thunder at Justin Langer and made the breakthrough.

Later, when Kevin Pietersen was taking a battering from Brett Lee, Vaughan told him to play as if it were the first day of the series, not the last. Pietersen went out and battered Lee back.

BEST MATCH

The Edgbaston Test. High drama with a superb twist: it all hinged on one crooked finger.

BIGGEST REVELATION

Simon Jones was hot stuff, using reverse swing to bamboozle the Aussies.

But an even greater surprise was sprung by the crowds, who abandoned gentility for raucous partisanship. “The grounds this summer have been totally different,” Vaughan said this week. “The support has been very intense and it’s certainly driven us on.”

GREATEST SHOWMAN

Shane Warne, pipping his protégé, Pietersen. A conjuror and pantomime villain rolled into one.

SILLIEST DECISION

ICC’s new supersub rule, which in effect handed an extra player to the side winning the toss. Madness.

MOST GLARING MISSED CHANCE

Multiple entries here from Pietersen and Geraint Jones, but the winner is the whole England team, for accepting that invitation to Downing Street. The team are wary of bandwagon jumpers, a policy that should be impervious to rank. It was shameless of Tony Blair to invite them and it would have been stylish to decline.

BEST COMPETITION

The Twenty20 Cup. Attendances rose again, showing that its instant success was not about novelty, it was about entertainment.

WORST COMPETITION

The totesport League. Many supporters cannot even tell you where their county lies in the table. One tournament has to go, and this is it.

BEST CV

Andrew Strauss, who, after 18 months with England, has series wins over New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and Australia under his belt. At the Oval he was a senior player, keeping his head when all about him were losing theirs.

WACKIEST SELECTION

Shaun Udal, an England tourist again after a ten-year hiatus. He has missed their past 316 matches. It is the most unlikely comeback since Rip van Bicknell in 2003 — which worked out rather well.

TALLEST ORDER

Mark Ramprakash and Scott Newman, of Surrey, who came together on Wednesday evening against Middlesex needing to add 360 to stave off relegation. They managed 99.

THICKEST PLANKS

The Australia selectors. Seeing England struggle against spin and feast on their seamers, they never once picked Stuart MacGill. Then they decided to make a sacrificial offering from the Test batting line-up and chose Damien Martyn rather than Matthew Hayden. Martyn has five centuries in the past year, Hayden one.

MOST IMPROVED COUNTY

Durham. In May I wrote that they were destined never to leave the second division of the county championship; sure enough, they did so.

GRAVEST LOSS

Channel 4, who finished on a high, touching eight million viewers and new heights of flair. Even their credits were a joy, beautifully uniting cricket’s sense of history with its sometimes neglected sense of fun.

BEST SPELL

Glenn McGrath at Lord’s, with five for seven in his first 8.1 overs. That’s not bowling, it’s perfection.