Sir Ian Botham, Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain, David Gower and Bob Willis on unsung Ashes heroes

Botham, Gower, and Willis - even Atherton and Hussain - have all had their fair share of Ashes headlines over the years.

But, as the show-stealers are only too happy to concede, it takes a combination of special individual performances to win an Ashes series.

Our Ashes Panel pays tribute to the unsung heroes whose input they feel has either been overlooked or underplayed over the years...

Nasser Hussain: Dean Headley and Mark Ramprakash

A couple of names spring to mind actually and Dean Headley would be one of them. Australia had a lot of left-handers in their side in the 1998/99 series which was lucky because Dean tended to bowl well at them! Overall, he had a good record against Australia taking 35 wickets at around 25.

The pinnacle was definitely the 6-60 he took to bowl us to victory at Melbourne after we'd only been able to set Australia 175 to win, but the truth is he bowled well against Australia in general and in turn they thought he was a good cricketer, a decent performer against them.

With Dean it was as much about his heart as his overall ability. He loved the theory, the competition; Bumble will tell you he was difficult to coach at times because he could over-complicate things but he was a lovely lad, a real tryer, and it was a shame that he didn't play more for England because of his knee problems. He was a very, very popular member of the team and a very fine cricketer.

Mark Ramprakash is another who fits this category, actually. Some people point to his overall average of 27 as evidence that he didn't have a good Test career but he always played very well against Australia; in fact his average was higher against them than any other team and he made a great hundred against Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee at the Oval in 2001 which was some feat.

Mark Waugh also got a ton in that game but - as for most of his career - it was eclipsed by one from Steve. History hasn't forgotten Mark but I think Steve has taken a lot of kudos away from him over the years. Mark may not have had his brother's hunger but having played with and against him, I've no doubt he was an exceptional cricketer, a genuine class act.

Michael Atherton: Chris Broad and Richard Ellison

A lot of the focus going into the 1986/87 Ashes was naturally on Ian Botham and David Gower after their achievements in the first half of the 1980s, whereas Chris Broad (below) - whose last Test appearance had come over two years earlier - was rather underrated. He'd actually performed pretty well over four Tests against the West Indies in 1984 but Tim Robinson got the nod for the 1985 Ashes and contributed a shed-load of runs only to struggle in the Caribbean the following winter.

To achieve what he did as an opener on that tour, namely hundreds in three consecutive Tests, was an outstanding effort even if it wasn't against one of the strongest bowling attacks Australia have put out. He didn't actually play a great deal for England after that series, I guess maybe because he stood his ground after being given out at Lahore on that heated tour in Pakistan in 1987; at the time I don't suppose that would have gone down that well with those who were picking the team. In that respect I suppose he has been slightly under-rated over the years.

The other person who springs to mind is Richard Ellison in 1985, swinging the ball around at Edgbaston and various places. Players crop up, do well and make names for themselves in Ashes history. He lo