[Matt79]

Yeah, possibly. But how then do you rate that overall record against his efforts in specific matches like Old Trafford in 2005, or Brisbane in 2006/7?

I think you also need to take his overall record vs England with a grain of salt, or in a bit more detailed view: like all the Aussie batsmen he struggled overall in 2005 by his normal standard, only scoring 350-odd runs at a tick under 40. The two series either side of that he was pretty dominant, averaging 52 and 82.

What particularly drags his overall record against England down is his 1998 series, where he averaged only 11 across three tests and was dropped after the 3rd test. He was only 24 at the time, and came back into the team later in 1999 better for the experience. Having come in so young, he was always likely to have a point where his game came under scrutiny and his form suffered - for him, that process culminated during a series against England.

Haven't done the maths, but I imagine if you take that series out, his average vs. England would be 50+.

Don't want to make excuses for him - part of the point of career averages is that they capture the times you were bad along with the times you were good, but in his case I think he has a more 'legitimate' reason for the times he was bad and to describe it as 'underperforming pretty badly' is a bit unfair. That said, if we're trying to split players like Border, Waugh and Ponting, then maybe this sort of thing is what we need to look at.