The English players had started their training session on Thursday with a game of soccer, with each one of them donning their Christmas caps. It was the day for it. It was also in keeping with the general festive spirit at the MCG around the eve of a Boxing Day Test each year. There were kids running around, families posing for pictures, and a lot of greetings being exchanged.

So, when Harry Brook walked into the nets area with his Christmas cap still on and even ended up facing an over of throwdowns with it, there was nothing untoward about it. Yet, there was a beeline for anyone with a camera standing behind the nets to capture an image or clip of England's vice-captain facing the cricket ball with his fancy headgear on.

Not that much was made about it. But it was just another reminder of how England's Ashes campaign or what's left of it has now quickly shifted more towards what they get up to off the field. It is both a sign of the times we live in and also a tad unfair on a bunch of professional cricketers who are away from home on a long tour, and especially during this time of the year.

This has not been a fun tour for Ben Stokes and his team on the field to start with, and the recent drama surrounding their time in Noosa has only made it tougher. With their chances of winning this series now done and dusted, all England have left is to play for pride, as the cliche goes, but also to save some face before they head home in just over two weeks' time. And probably ensure that the focus around what they're here to do shifts back to what they manage to do on the field. It doesn't get any easier though now that they have to face the music in front of over 90,000 fans at a packed MCG on Boxing Day.

The task for Australia is rather straightforward, as is the case each time they go 3-0 up in a home series. Now that the Ashes have been retained, and the English resoundingly beaten, the stage is now set for the home team to impose some bitter humiliation on their arch rivals, especially in a series that had kicked off with such promise around what England could potentially achieve this time around. And the quest for a whitewash for the Aussies, who too had more of a workout in the nets than usual, starts this week in Melbourne.