Best: England retaining the Ashes

Best: England retaining the Ashes
Tim Bresnan finds the edge of Ben Hilfenhaus' bat, Matt Prior takes the catch and 24 years of hurt are over as England retain the Ashes in Australia at the MCG. It was an epic display, bowling out Australia for 98 before piling up 513, then running through the hosts a second time. Australia don't get beaten by an innings and 157 runs. Well, they do now. It was a success four years in the planning, from the moment England were whitewashed in 2006-07. It wasn't a seamless climb, far from it, but in Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, England found a perfect combination. However, they are a team, a proper team. A few moments after the final wicket, Graeme Swann was leading a rendition of the "sprinkler dance" in front of the Barmy Army to launch a mass celebration. A day to savour.

Worst: the sham at Lord's
When Graeme Swann can barely bring himself to celebrate another Test match five-wicket haul you know something has gone badly wrong. England completed a record-breaking innings-and-225-run victory against Pakistan at Lord's, to take the series 3-1, but nobody's focus was on the action in the middle. The previous evening Pakistan had slid out of the ground without honouring their media commitments. It was presumed they were embarrassed by the performance, but a few hours later the News of the World revealed the sport's biggest corruption crisis in a decade, this time in the guise of spot-fixing. Given three of Pakistan's players - Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif - were splashed across front, back and many inside pages, there were serious thoughts the Test might not continue. Pakistan did appear, albeit briefly - England showed commendable professionalism to just get the job done - but it was one of most solemn atmospheres ever at Lord's. A match that saw a world-record stand between Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad was forever tarnished. Amir, fittingly, bagged a pair, and when he collected his Man-of-the-Series award, Giles Clarke could barely look at him. It was a feeling shared by many cricket fans.