Tim Ambrose
No one was under more scrutiny all series, but he stood up well, both literally (bar a missed stumping off Jacob Oram) and metaphorically. Would England have won the series without his hundred at Wellington? Probably not, and he ended up scoring almost as many runs as Brendon McCullum, if rather more slowly. Matt Prior (Test average: 40) might point out that his old mate and sparring-partner averages 34, but, standing back, he never looked like dropping a catch. For the moment, the debate can wait. 7/10
Jimmy Anderson
Does any other bowler in world cricket make a curate's egg look more like a model of consistency? Went from great white hope (eight out of 10 at Wellington) to same old Jimmy (two out of 10 at Napier) in the space of a few days, giving hope to Matthew Hoggard in the process and almost resurrecting the apparently doomed career of Matthew Bell. Batsmen - even Tim Southee - seem to have cottoned on to the fact that he tends to concede runs in torrents not trickles. He'd just better hope the ball swings this summer - otherwise the plastic cone looms. 5/10
Ian Bell
For sheer style, his 110 at Napier was the innings of the series. Ignore the nit-pickers who say it wasn't made under pressure: Bell was arguably playing for his place, and New Zealand's assault on their target of 553 gave his hundred a retrospective sheen. It's true that he still has a tendency to go missing when it matters, and he might yet go down as Grant Elliot's only Test victim, but, well, he topped England's averages. Now, he must work out a way of translating style into substance more regularly: trying to be himself, rather than Ricky Ponting, might be a start. 6/10
Stuart Broad
If this was the future, then England fans can relax. His performance at Napier was wholeheartedly back-bending. In the first innings, he played Lewis to Ryan Sidebottom's Morse, plugging away quietly for almost a whole session as New Zealand unravelled; in the second, he rightly leapfrogged Anderson. And no one else in the side bowled as effectively to McCullum. His batting had the whiff of a classy Ashley Giles at No8 too. Watch this space and try not to get too excited. 7/10
Paul Collingwood
As ever, easy to underestimate. Didn't pass 66, but passed 50 more times than any of his colleagues, averaged 40 and took five cheap wickets. His roles in the first-innings recoveries at both Wellington (second fiddle to Ambrose) and Napier (likewise to Kevin Pietersen) were characteristically fire-fighting; the only major blemish was a 50-ball two at Hamilton that conjured up too many memories of Adelaide, and a slip at slip in the next Test. He might not like it at No6, but no one bats better with the tail. The captain-in-waiting? 7/10
Alastair Cook
Not even the unexpected pleasure of a first international six could hide the frustrations of reaching 37 four times but never passing 60. If India exposed a leg-before flaw, New Zealand worked on his tendency to dangle an open-faced bat outside off. His fielding, though, gives hope: if he can morph almost overnight from a liability into Jonty Rhodes's more gangly brother, then coping with the odd technical flaw should be a breeze. And he should still make 10,000 Test runs. 5/10
Steve Harmison
Caught the plane after hanging on in England for the birth of his fourth child, but missed the boat. Will Hamilton (one for 121 and scores of nought and one) go down as his final contribution to a maddening career? He will need either injuries or a bucketload of wickets for Durham to persuade the selectors otherwise. His most engaging performances came off the field: his heart-on-sleeve interview with Nasser Hussain on Sky was a classic of its kind, while his pop at Geoff Boycott revealed a passion some thought he didn't possess. 2/10
Matthew Hoggard
Harsh though his dropping was, he hammered a nail into his own coffin when he revealed he was still one match away from full fitness. But it was hard to say whether his performance at Hamilton was merely rust or the start of the decline, as per Jason Gillespie in 2005. Anderson's waywardness might have given him a way back in, and the prospect of a swinging ball at Lord's in May could yet rouse him to old heights. Here's hoping: the series was too devoid of ploughman's-gait references for comfort. 3/10
Monty Panesar
Saved his winter with a fourth-innings haul at Napier that not even Southee's assault (47 runs off Monty in 26 balls) could ruin. Ended up outbowling Vettori, which is not to say he cannot absorb in the long run some of his changes of pace and angle. But - as Vic Marks pointed out recently - you would still rather have Panesar on a turning pitch. Surely here to stay, even if his fielding regressed alarmingly at Wellington and his batting output remains miserable for one capable of driving fast bowlers through the covers. 6/10
Kevin Pietersen
If Napier 08 had shades of Christchurch 02, then Pietersen's hundred in a match of two low first innings equated to Hussain's six year ago. After 10 half-century-less knocks, it was a performance of class and character, and possibly more character than class. It also suggested a return to the instinctive flamboyance that dazzled at the start of his career. England will need KP circa 2005 if they are to beat South Africa this summer. 7/10
Ryan Sidebottom
Superb. Took a five-for in each Test, claimed 13 more wickets than his nearest rivals on either side (Chris Martin and Panesar) and won the series in a session at Napier. The Hamilton hat-trick? All in a day's work. Fittingly finished things off at Napier by demonstrating the art of bowling a straight one to Martin. Why couldn't England have unearthed him two years earlier? 9/10
Andrew Strauss
That career-saving 177 was more than a triumph of the will, although it was certainly that. It hinted at a straighter game - has he played more drives down the ground in a single innings? - and one which might yet see him through to the 2009 Ashes. Doubts persist outside off-stump, but which of England's batsmen can say they enjoy the one that swings away late? Yes, he was lucky to be selected in the first place; no, his century was not meaningless. Sorry, Owais. 6/10
Michael Vaughan
Scored more than half his runs (63) in his first innings of the series, and spent the rest of it either getting good'uns or playing very bad'uns: that attempted swivel pull alone off Martin in the first over of the second innings at Napier was worthy of a thesis about how not to play the new ball. Pressure will grow without an early score against New Zealand in the summer. His field placings remained as imaginative as ever, with the continued and curious exception of those he set for Panesar. Perhaps the six-for will engender more trust. 5/10
Extract taken from the Spin, guardian.co.uk's weekly take on the world of cricket
