Alastair Cook… His honeymoon as captain is well and truly over and as leader must take share of blame for England's poor discipline and negative body language in the field © Getty Images
By David Green
From the sublime to the ridiculous, England’s 0-5 defeat in India after the whitewash of the same team months earlier was quite dramatic.
Here’s the report card of the English players after the series:
Alastair Cook - 4 (133 runs at 26.60, SR 84.71): A pair of sixties sandwiched three failures in the middle three games. His honeymoon as captain is well and truly over and as leader must take share of blame for England's poor discipline and negative body language in the field.
Craig Kieswetter - 4 (135 runs at 27.00, SR 101.50): Shocking performance with the gloves cost England the game in Mohali and with his batting flattering to deceive his place will come under scrutiny. Did bat well in Kolkata, though should have dug in to see his side over the line.
Jonathan Trott - 6 (202 runs at 50.50, SR 79.84): Received ridiculous and undeserved criticism after his 98* at Mohali - the only game that England ran India close in. Does need to find another gear, but it is churlish to call for his head when he has a one day average in excess of 50. Definitely not Trott's fault.
Kevin Pietersen - 6 (170 runs at 42.50, SR 82.52): Dealt with the furore of Graeme Swann's autobiography with dignity and looked close to his best in Delhi and Mohali, but still couldn't pass 64, despite reaching 40 on three occasions. Hasn't scored a One-Day International hundred for three years now.
Ravi Bopara - 2 (80 runs at 16.00, SR 62.99): Went horribly backwards after taking what seemed to be several significant steps forward in the summer. His dreadful dismissal, bowled behind his legs in Kolkata, could prove his international epitaph.
Ian Bell - 2 Endured a frustrating time on the sidelines before being part of the woeful collapse in Kolkata.
Jonathan Bairstow - 3 (49 runs at 12.25, SR 59.75): After all the hype from to his remarkable debut in Cardiff, the youngster looked woefully out of his depth against spin and the slower Indian wickets. Needs to learn from the experience.
Samit Patel – 6 (160 runs at 40, SR 91.95; 4 wickets at 45.50, ER 6.03): One of the few plus points - memorable innings at Mohali and was as good if not better than Swann with the ball.
Tim Bresnan – 3 (5 wickets at 49, ER 5.65; 61 runs at 15.25, SR 87.14): Out of sorts with the ball and proved a poor leader of the attack in the absence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, which perhaps explains his fractiousness. Useful knock in Mumbai at least gave England a slither of hope.
Graeme Swann – 2 (2 wickets at 95.50, ER 5.30): Being dropped for the Mumbai game must have been a chastening experience for the side's budding Shakespeare. His performances and mood were as bad as the timing of the release of his autobiography, and the success of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja puts his poor form even more into context.
Scott Borthwick - 2: Came in for Swann at Mumbai but didn't look even close to an international class spinner. Has plenty of promise though and the Durham leggie's time will come again.
Steven Finn - 6 (8 wickets at 31.62, ER 5.27): England's lone star with the ball was up on pace and at times the Indian batsmen found him too hot to handle. Needs to channel his temper better.
Jade Dernbach – 2 (1 wicket at 168, ER 6.54): Struggled badly and completely lost the plot in the final overs at Mohali and was consequently dropped for the last two games. However, given it was his first venture on Indian pitches, should be persevered with.
Stuart Meaker - 5 (2 wickets at 55, ER 5.78): Came in at Mumbai and Kolkata, showed immense promise and character and didn't let anyone down - even if his final over at Kolkata proved to be a MS Dhoni Master Class.
(David Green is the brain behind the irreverent The Reverse Sweep blog and also writes for a number of cricket publications and sites such as World Cricket Watch. You can follow him on Twitter also@TheReverseSweep. David was a decent schoolboy and club cricketer (and scored his maiden 100 the same week that Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test ton) but not good enough to fulfil his childhood dream of emulating Douglas Jardine by winning the Ashes in Australia and annoying the locals into the bargain. He now lives with his wife and two young children in the South of France and will one day write the definitive biography of Hedley Verity)
