Was Scott Boland's 18 wickets at an average of under ten a record for the Ashes?
And who holds the record for the most consecutive Tests at the end of which his average has gone up?

Sarfaraz Ahmed improved his average over 11 consecutive Tests up to November 2014 • Getty Images
Two batters share the record for improving their batting average in the most successive Tests. Brian Close did so in 11 consecutive matches for England leading up to August 1963, and he was followed by Sarfaraz Ahmed of Pakistan, in 11 in a row to November 2014. Four players improved their average in ten successive Tests: another Pakistani, Mudassar Nazar (up to January 1983), Mike Gatting of England (up to August 1985), the South African fast bowler Andre Nel (to April 2006), and Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews (to December 2014).
Australia's incredibly impressive newcomer Scott Boland finished with 18 wickets at 9.55. Only four men have had a lower average in an Ashes series in which they took more than 12 wickets - and all of them were in the 19th century, when pitches were less trustworthy and batting techniques more rudimentary - although some might say England's haven't improved much since then!
There have been four Test matches to date in which three batters from the same side have bagged a pair. The first was in Auckland in 1954-55, in the match in which New Zealand slumped to 26 all out against England, the lowest total in Test history: Matt Poore, Ian Colquhoun (a king pair) and John Hayes were all out for 0 in both innings.
Kevin O'Brien has so far scored 1973 runs for Ireland in T20Is, which puts him in 15th place on the overall list. His compatriot Paul Stirling is above him - he's currently sixth on the list with 2606 runs. Just above O'Brien at the moment is Mohammad Shahzad of Afghanistan, with 2015 runs. All the others with more runs come from long-established Test nations. It remains to be seen whether O'Brien will add to his tally. His 38th birthday is fast approaching, and he was omitted from Ireland's T20I squad for their recent matches in the United States.
The Kent wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings received England cap No. 700 before the last Ashes Test
Steven Lynch is the editor of the updated edition of Wisden on the Ashes