Ashes 2017-18 (Australia): Australia Win 4-0 — Smith 687 Runs and 137 Average, Cummins 23 Wickets, Cook 244* at Melbourne, Bancroft Debut at Brisbane, Adelaide Day-Night Test

Australia won the 2017-18 Ashes series in Australia by 4-0 (with the 4th Test at Melbourne drawn). Steve Smith won the Compton-Miller Medal as Player of the Series with 687 runs at an average of 137.40 — the second-highest average by an Australian in Ashes history, behind Don Bradman's 139.14 in 1930. Smith scored 3 centuries, including a career-best 239 at Perth. 1st Test Gabba, Brisbane (Nov 23-27): Australia won by 10 wickets — ENG 302 & 195; AUS 328 & 173/0. Cameron Bancroft debuted, scoring 82* in Australia's 2nd innings to share an unbroken 173-run opening stand with Warner that sealed the result. Player of the Match: Mitchell Starc. 2nd Test Adelaide Oval (Dec 2-6, day-night pink ball): Australia won by 120 runs — AUS 442/8d & 138; ENG 227 & 233. Shaun Marsh scored 126 in Australia's 1st innings. 3rd Test WACA, Perth (Dec 14-18): Australia won by innings and 41 runs — ENG 403 & 218; AUS 662/9d. Smith scored 239 (career best). Player of the Match: Smith. 4th Test MCG, Melbourne (Dec 26-30, Boxing Day Test): Match drawn — AUS 327 & 263/4d; ENG 491. Alastair Cook scored 244* in England's 1st innings — his highest Ashes score — in his 150th Test match. Player of the Match: Cook. 5th Test SCG, Sydney (Jan 4-8): Australia won by innings and 123 runs — ENG 346 & 180; AUS 649/7d. Cummins took 8 match wickets. Player of the Match: Pat Cummins. Pat Cummins led all wicket-takers with 23 wickets (breakout series); Starc 22; Hazlewood 21. Root scored 378 series runs — England's most. Dawid Malan and Mitchell Marsh each scored maiden Test centuries in the series. Tom Curran debuted for England at Melbourne. Steve Smith captained Australia; Joe Root captained England.

Smith 687 Runs at 137 Average: Second Only to Bradman in Ashes History

Steve Smith's 687 series runs at an average of 137.40 — accumulated across 10 innings in five Tests — placed him in historically elite company. Only Don Bradman, who averaged 139.14 in the 1930 Ashes in England, has ever averaged higher in an Ashes series. Smith's dominance of England's bowling was comprehensive: he scored three centuries (including the career-best 239 in Australia's 662/9d at Perth) and was never dismissed for less than 40 in any Ashes innings except one. His 239 at the WACA was one of the great individual Ashes innings — constructed over nearly eight hours against a England attack that, at 403 in their first innings, had fought well. Australia's 662/9d in reply gave them the innings margin, with Smith's 239 at the heart of a total that rendered England's first-innings score irrelevant. England's bowlers had no answer to Smith's footwork, his back-and-across movement to off-spin, or his ability to score freely on both sides of the wicket.

Cummins 23 Wickets: The 2017-18 Series That Launched a Career

Pat Cummins' 23 series wickets — the most by any bowler in the 2017-18 Ashes — represented a full return to Test cricket after years lost to injury had interrupted what had begun as a prodigiously promising career. His 8 match wickets in the 5th Test at Sydney, earning him Player of the Match, bookended a series in which he had been the most consistent of Australia's three-man pace attack (Starc 22 wickets, Hazlewood 21). The three seamers combined for 66 wickets across the series — a seam-dominated bowling performance that exposed England's batting limitations against short-pitched bowling with pace and bounce. Cummins' emergence as the fulcrum of Australia's attack in 2017-18 was the foundation of his subsequent rise to the captaincy.

Bancroft Debut, Adelaide Day-Night, and the 10-Wicket Brisbane Opener

Australia's 10-wicket win at Brisbane — the first Test of the series — established the tone immediately. Cameron Bancroft, debuting as Australia's opener in the 1st Test, scored 82* in Australia's 2nd-innings chase of 170 alongside Warner to reach the target unbroken: the first Australian opener to debut in an Ashes Test since Michael Slater in 1993. Mitchell Starc's bowling in the match earned him Player of the Match and set the standard for Australia's seam attack across the series. The Adelaide 2nd Test — a day-night Test with the pink ball, the first such Test in Ashes history at Adelaide Oval in this format — produced a 120-run Australia win with Shaun Marsh's 126 in Australia's 1st innings as the batting centrepiece. England's batting inconsistency in day-night conditions was a preview of the struggles that would define their series.