Finally, in the last two days of the third Test with the series already basically lost, England stood up. They have been on a hell of a journey over 11 days of Test cricket, and now – too late – they are getting somewhere.

They have reminded me of some of the students who have passed through the school where I teach: they get into the upper sixths and they’re first-team cricketers, the big boys, very confident, dominating the team, playing good cricket, think they’ve cracked the code. Then they have a gap year and go travelling, and suddenly they realise there’s a whole world out there, that life can be tough and things can be done differently. Out of their comfort zone they can mature rapidly as young men and as people. I look at England’s performance in the third Test and think that after some tough experiences, and having been forced to confront the fact that they are not what they thought they were, they have maybe turned a corner in terms of their maturity.

That might seem an odd statement given the experience in this team, but so much of their approach to cricket and to this series has been anything but mature. The leadership around this team has produced a lot of memorable rhetoric across the last few years – running towards the danger, see ball hit ball, we don’t play for draws, taking the aggressive option – but here, in the disappointment of defeat, were signs that they are on the verge of producing something actually meaningful.

After the game Brendon McCullum said his players had been “so caught up and so driven to succeed that we almost got in our own way, and we stymied our talent and our skill and our ability”. What an extraordinary admission: his time in charge has been all about taking away pressure and freeing the players from fear, and here was the coach admitting that when it came to the crunch, to the biggest and toughest series his players are going to have to deal with, his methods had completely failed. I was gobsmacked by that. But now the team has found another way of removing pressure – by losing the series in double-quick time – and can go into the last two games with a fresh mindset.

This is the worst-case scenario, three down with three played, the Ashes already gone. But somehow I still feel optimistic about England’s chances at the MCG. Such are the improvements I saw towards the end of the third Test I think they are on the way up, and some players are starting to show the talent and quality they have. With Australia set to be without Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, and perhaps with their phenomenal will to win dimmed slightly by the series already being decided, if England can keep their own spirits up they should be able to end their losing run.

In the second innings in Adelaide Zak Crawley looked every inch a Test opener – he even drew praise from Mark Waugh, who isn’t exactly inclined to shower Englishmen with plaudits. It was such a welcome sight, watching Crawley playing in an orthodox fashion, defending late and tight to his body, backing his defence against the new ball and then feeding off the scoring opportunities that inevitably came his way. For three years he has been told to go out and play his way, and perhaps he has finally realised what that should look like. When it comes to Crawley the messaging has been that he is not expected to be consistent, that his job is to set the tone. His challenge now is to be a better player than that suggests, to show real consistency with this new mindset and method and go on to be a prolific opening batter.

Jofra Archer was outstanding in Australia’s first innings, combining hostility with accuracy and longevity, getting through 20 overs in stifling conditions.

In his first innings Ben Stokes dug in and did exactly the opposite of everything he has spoken about for three years, proving his skill and adaptability again – he will reflect on his captaincy and his leadership on this tour, but those qualities have never been in doubt – and having spoken after Brisbane about determination and fight he led by example brilliantly. In the way they approach their batting in particular this side has completely rejected the idea that time is an important factor in Test cricket but in those conditions keeping the opposition in the field is an achievement in itself, and perhaps that contributed to Lyon’s hamstring injury. If you make the opposition bowlers work hard and fatigue their bodies, force them to spend hours on the field in high temperatures, it will impact on their performances and on their bodies. There is a value to batting time.

It is a lesson Harry Brook needs to take on board. He has the shots, all the ingredients to go on and become a huge run-scorer, but he has not proved that he has the appetite mentally to put in the hours both in his preparation and during games to make the most of his talent in the red-ball game.

He was widely criticised after getting out playing a reverse sweep in England’s second innings. I don’t mind the shot selection – a lot of modern players are very good at it and play it regularly, much as they would a cover drive.

The issue wasn’t that he got out playing a reverse sweep, it was that it was a really bad, poorly controlled reverse sweep – a lot going on in terms of changing his foot position, leading to him losing his balance.

I encourage young players facing spin to get well forward or to play off the back foot, and if you can do that with a straight bat it’s low risk. The reverse sweep is a high-risk shot: if you miss it there’s a good chance you’re going to get out, so it needs to be played with real control.

Brook showed signs in both innings of accepting the responsibility he has and his readiness to play an innings for the team’s sake, but his decision-making still lets him down. Again, it is a question of maturity. This team has been on a hell of a ride since they landed in Australia, and they have been forced to mature rapidly, but the journey is far from over.