 The outcome of the series was decided by a small group of players, including Ambrose, whom Mike Coward described in "Wisden" as "five of the most distinguished cricketers of all time".Ambrose took 19 wickets at 22.26, second to Walsh in the averages.His best figures came in the fourth and final Test, when he took five for 94 in the first innings and eight wickets in the match, but in the third match, although he only took four wickets in total, Coward described Ambrose as "rampant" and wrote that Steve Waugh, who scored 199, had to survive "some extraordinary pace bowling from Ambrose".