Difficult. If the bowler bowls with the same arm speed, the ball will leave the hand faster as there is no spin on it. So its straighter and quicker with less bounce. 

Id be curious if the likes of Ashwin and Jadeja are trying to bowl knuckle arm balls, That would then be like a slower straight ball that would float out of the hand.

Yeeehahhh WE WON THE ASHES!!!!   Amazing feeling after so many losses on the trot. In fact since 2001.

Ok Paddles do you now acknowledge that Australia has a world class pace attack.

And you Mike will you finally recognise Josh Hazlewood as a bowler of quality.

You beauty!

I had  go to bed.

Even my better half is following this Ashes series an told me the result in the middle of the night.

After reading Cricinfo, we have to really credit England for never giving up. Most other teams would've cracked a long time before they did under the scoreboard pressure they've been under in the last few Tests. Fair play to them. Never say die, England.

I've  read other  retired Aussie Test players stating that Smith suffered under captaincy, being burdened by constant scrutiny . They consider  he is batting better without the burden of leadership. Paine is more suited to the role and in this Test he got a lot of bowling changes and field placements right, mixing up part timers with front line bowlers.

Now we've retained The Ashes, I'd be inclined to rest Cummins, who is exhausted.

The camera was on Lyon and he may have an injury to his spinning finger, effecting his bowling efficacy. I'd rest him and play Holland.

Given we've won, no open in partnership has exceeded 13 runs! Bring Usman back in to open instead of Warner. I'd all be inclined to bring Marsh or Neser in, but Wade did enough in this Test to retain his place. He was also very hard edged on the pitch . England fans complained the two Tasmanians , Paine and Wade, goaded Archer on the pitch for apparently leaving Hobart Hurricanes for Adelaide.

Paine has captained the first Aussies  since 2001 to retain The Ashes in England. His batting worked in this Test. Naysayers will always find fault, but he has captained, kept, batted and been a gracious and eloquent public speaker  for a team with one of the weakest Aussie batting line ups of all time to win the test and The Ashes.

Clarke, Ponting and Smith, never achieved this.  

Paddles?

Mike?

Let us hear from you, lads.

Boycott describes Cummins and Hazelwood as 'cracking' or 'crackerjack' pace bowlers, close to the  best of all time!

Boycs went on and on about them last night!

He is so funny - the greatest radio commentator in world cricket ATM.

Incredible grazor. Yes we were robbed at Leeds. 

Mr report card:
Warner 2 (time to go)
Harris 3
Labuchagne 6
Smith 8
Head 4
Wade 5
Paine 7
Cummins 8
Hazlewood  7
Starc  5
Lyon 4 

Smith only an 8? He has pretty much on his own won this series for us

should be 3-0 amazing!

Hope we prepare for the next india tour this well!

haha go easy on them they are celebrating with the rest of us. How good is this!

though I will take a victory lap since I said that Hazelwood and starc are good bowlers but just need to be rotated. For whatever reason we have a crop of world class bowlers who quickly decline in quality if they bowl too many games in a row (except of cummins)

That is for this game mate. Settle down. Smith gets a 10/10 for the series. 

Now the we have finally won the little urn in enemy territory after almost two decades. lets run a rule over who best performed to get us this sweet victory.

Warner 2/10. Time to go slugger.
Bancroft 3/10  glaring technical problem he must fix
Harris 3/10  out of his depth on these decks
Labuchagne 8/10  great character shown. Will be emboldened by this showing
Smith 10/10 no words needed. They have all been said.
Khawaja 4/10  struggled against the moving Dukes
Head 4/10 does not have the technique against the moving ball. needs more time in state cricket.
Wade 5/10 May hang on for the summer.
Paine 6/10  let him have a  final summer series. Deserves it.
Cummins 9/10 lived up to his reputation as the current world's best bowler.
Hazlewood 8/10  learnt from his mistakes in 2015. An imposing performance with the Dukes.
Lyon 4/10 in a word.. disappointing after the first test.
Pattinson 4/10  below expectations. Has lost his venomous pace.
Siddle 5/10   usual wholehearted effort. Time for greener pastures Sids.

Such an amazing Test.
Considering the rain breaks and all impressed.
Smith, what a game what a series to date.
They can belt you, beat you, hound you, sledge you, sit out 3rd Test and come back rub all their nose's on the wicket you owned.
Game breaker Series breaker Pom breaker - like the ol days loving it.
Now lets get this last Test win.

Disagree.

He captained the team to the first retention of The Ashes in 18 years.

Worth  far more as he took over a side in disarray.

Disgree.

Worth more. Had two shocking overs late in one Test, otherwise bowled very well at times. 

Patto has bowled at 145-7 kph on occasions. 

Could replace an exhausted Cummins for the 5th test.

Why DC. You mean his rating. Yes a touch harsh 7/10. 
Hats off too Tim Paine for leading us to this memorable win. He cops far too much flack from no it all keyboard warriors. They forget that he has restored respect in the Australian cricket brand. 

Probably agree with all these, except Labu should be lower.

A few technical points made, are above my head and knowledge of cricket.

I also think GOAT has a finger injury, which has impeded his bowling .

Worth about 8 for his keeping, leadership and in the 4th Test, his batting.

Most of the Aussie specialist batters haven't made 50s in the series.

Strongly agree with 10 for Smith.

Nah. I have Marnus spot on. 291 @58 with four valuable 50s. Showed great character and maturity in adversity. 

What technical points DC?

Is this finger injury just talk to cover his mediocre performance. Botham said he would bowl us to victory. Not even close. He had the conditions.. a crumbling deck, bounce. But came up short literally. Boycott said he bowls too short for Pommie decks. He has trouble learning.

Plenty of technical points.

I can't quite analyse how certain players are unable to cope with moving Dukes balls, like you and others can.

I can't  identify arm balls from finger spinners.

A lot of other stuff too.

DC you disagrees are confusing mate. Make clearer please.

Those Patto speeds were the exception rather than the rule. His pace was well down on what we expected of him. So was his intensity. Say for instance how he bowled in last few shield games. How about giving Siddle a swan song as he almost certainly has played his last series in a baggy green.

Not sure what more he could have done this game? Had to come in early both innings and bat the entire innings more or less

Sam how remiss of me. He scored that double in the first innings. How the bloody hell did I forget that. Yes 10/10. The Pommies were pulling the last of their hairs out  and calling for the men in white coats after that effort.

Paine did a good job keeping but we win this series with or without him. His on field captaincy is regularly rubbish with poor field placements, negative approach and wasting reviews (hello 3rd test).

Smith carrying the entire batting load on his own and Hazlewood and Cummins being brilliant won us this series. Paine was a passenger like the rest of them

Now that the series is won i'd still give Warner this final test. He has had a shit series but i do still feel he is our best opener who is in a form slump. It isn't like we have someone knocking down the door to replace him, all our opening options are quite poor.

I love how he clearly has enough balance to nimbly never get out lbw but consistently falls a over t ducking and weaving the short ball! The anathema that is SS 

There is some merit on what you say, CS, but  Warner has an average of about 55 on Aus pitches, about 30 on foreign pitches and is in the twilight of his career.

All of our top 6 have failed, with the notable exceptions of Smith and Labu, and arguably Head and  Wade. Warner is no future leadership option either.

Bancroft, Warner, Usman and Harris have all been dismal failures. 

Usman, like Warner, also has a poor record on foreign soil, and is ageing.

 Maybe the likes of a new generation in Pucovski,  Renshaw ( just needs to find the Test form of a few years ago), Sanga and Patterson, even Burns, might have good domestic seasons and supplant these guys.

Handscomb has been found at a international level, with technical issues. 

Given Burns already has 4 tons from 15 Tests, he has done quite well to date.  

Siddle was struggling  last year in the Shield with  the Kookaburra. He was dropped to 12th man for Victoria in one or two Shield games.  

I thought Patto was  bowling faster than Cummins at one stage of his last Test.

I wouldn't mind Siddle playing. I just want Cummins preserved for the domestic Test season.

I think we have been using that excuse for a couple of years now. He is on the slippery slide.. eye players tend to go quicker than others. So we give him the summer and he makes merry on our drop ins and pacy decks with no movement. Then gets picked for India where he has a shocking record. Where else are we touring next year. Dont have that schedule handy at moment.

Superlatives for the series win and team analysis aside for a moment, did I see Head thrown the ball just as I was going to bed??