Good to at least not lose the series.
Who would everyone's team of the tournament be?
For me:
Burns
Denly
Labuschagne
Smith
Root
Stokes
Bairstow (wk)
Cummins
Hazlewood
Archer
Lyon
Openers were all dire in the main but Burns and Denly were starting to settle in by the end of the tournament. Aussies were always terrible.
Main end batsmen had to be Smith, Labuschagne who look a composed and sensible batter when he came in for the injured Smith.
Final batting place is probably between Root and Wade, although neither were particularly great. Wade was terrible with the bat apart from his two centuries. Root got 4 50's but no tons, but he did take more catches and is a bit more useful as an emergency bowler. Looking at averages you could even say bringing in the likes of wither Marsh or Starc would be worthwhile ahead of either of them, with the added bonus of their bowling but as both only played one test it's hard to say they should get a place in the team.
Stokes was an effective middle order batsman and his ability to bowl as well just increases his value. Almost worth his place for Headingly alone.
Keeper - both were awful but Bairstow had a slightly better time with the bat and Paine's reviewing was terrible. I even thought of putting in Buttler even though he didn't keep wicket during the series but his averages were massaged due to some half decent scores in the last two tests playing more one-day like with the tail.
Cummins and Hazlewood have to be the two main quicks - by far the two most consistently effective.
Archer is third because he could be devastating in spells but was struggling with consistency and IMO we became over-reliant on him and over-used him. Batting he didn't look particularly great or disciplined but he does bring that air of excitement with him. Again you could say Marsh or Starc could be considered ahead of him but on one test probably not fair to drop him for them.
Spinner is a throw up. Similar overall averages considering Leach played one test less and he's got that cult hero status of sticking around with the bat, plus Lyon missed that chance at Headingley. Leach will be probably be the more memorable of the two from the series but ultimately Lyon was just a bit better.