England surrendered the urn in the early hours of Tuesday morning as they were crushed by Australia at the Waca by an innings and 41 runs – handing their rivals an unassailable 3-0 lead with two Tests to play.

And several former players are under no illusion as to where the blame lies – pointing the finger at the failure of senior players to stand up and be counted. 

“Joe Root and Alastair Cook have done next to nothing,” said former England spinner Graeme Swann.

“The senior guys who you expect to stand up and outshine the rookies have done the exact opposite. The shining lights have been Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Root must now make changes both for the future and to avoid a 5-0 whitewash Down Under. “Joe needs to take 10 players out with him that are desperate to be out there in the middle in the next Test in Melbourne,” said Vaughan.

“He’s 10 games into his role. He has to start having a look around the dressing room and try and identify the characters that he wants to take forward – there might be one or two that he doesn’t.

“Is it now time to start building? Is it now time to start looking at the future? And if it means that he has to make a tough call or two then he’s going to have make that.”

But Root jumped to his players’ defence saying: “It’s important we don’t panic and make hasty decisions after three games.”

He was also asked whether he believed that Cook and Stuart Broad can bounce back from disappointing series.

“I’d like to think so,” said Root. “Their performances over a long period of time speak for themselves and they have been in situations where things haven’t gone for them before.

“That’s why they have played so many game. I see no reason why throughout the rest of this series they can’t do that again.”

Instead, Root deflected the blame on to himself for England’s debacle, saying: “As captain you take a lot of responsibility. You are always learning, finding things out about yourself and your team.”

Coach Trevor Bayliss has now overseen seven consecutive defeats overseas with a 4-0 series loss in India and 3-0 here.

But he maintained he was still he right man to take England forward. “I think I am. We have done pretty well over the last couple of years,” said Bayliss. “The team is a work in progress and while I’d love to have the magic wand and click it and everyone turns into superstars overnight, it doesn’t happen that way.”