“‘It’s about mindset,” Brendon McCullum said, early on Saturday afternoon, while Pakistan’s players were still celebrating on the outfield with their trophy and their fans. “It’s about getting players who feel 10ft tall and bulletproof when they go out to play. It’s not a matter of instructing people about what shots they can and can’t play. That’s got a very short shelf life. These guys are able to play the game a lot better than perhaps we could ourselves.”

It is safe to say that none of his players felt 10ft tall at the time, having over the last two games of the series taken it in turns to be reduced to rubble by the spin of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, and by the batting of Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shakeel.

Related: Ben Stokes ‘hurting’ after Test series defeat in Pakistan, says Brendon McCullum

For a while in Pakistan they had stood tall, and shortly after drinks on the second day of the second Test England had over the series thus far scored a ludicrous 1,034 for nine. When Ben Stokes said that there were “many times in the last two Tests you would argue we were in front of the game and we let that slip”, this was the one above all others, the moment victory was within their grasp. From there until defeat was confirmed in Rawalpindi they scored 603 for 38.

As it all fell apart across Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, there were times when England seemed to be batting as if the outcome, individually and collectively, didn’t really matter. In many ways they would have been right: they do not play another Test in Asia until they visit Bangladesh in 2027, their chances of reaching the World Test Championship final next year were already over, and in less than a month they will be in New Zealand preparing for another series, this one vanishing already in the rearview mirror.

“In the end they were much better than us in these conditions,” McCullum summarised, approximating the sound of a shrug. Asked if England’s often catastrophic batting against spin was a concern, Stokes said: “If you look into it very deeply, which is something I don’t like to do, I could maybe say yes.” It could be argued that the England captain should look into it pretty deeply, but given his own struggles across the series he probably has enough on his mind.

What, anyway, are the repercussions of failure in this England squad? The answer is not always clear, certainly for the batters. Ollie Pope had an abysmal series, averaging 11; in seven of his past 11 innings he has scored fewer than eight runs and he has reached 30 only once. But not only is his position not under threat, England do not even have an obvious alternative top-order batter to cover for injury or illness. Pope bats at No 3 because nobody else in the squad wants to, and nobody outside it has been considered.

“No 3 is a tough place to bat,” McCullum said of Pope. “He’s still a really important part for us. He’ll benefit from a couple of weeks out and he’ll get another opportunity when we head to New Zealand in conditions where he’ll hopefully be able to flourish.” Surely those three games represent a chance Pope must take.

Sajid and Noman, who between them took 39 of a possible 40 wickets in the last two Tests, did not just show up the touring batters. England’s spinners had the obvious disadvantage of not bowling at their own teammates on turning pitches – so called because they turn English brains to mush – but obviously they were outbowled, and they could work in particular on improving their variations of pace.

Last week Stokes said of Shoaib Bashir: “We see him now as our spinner across the world,” which put Jack Leach in his place. England are unlikely to field multiple specialist spinners many times between now and that trip to Bangladesh and he is already 33; perhaps this for him is the end of the road. Having turned 21 in Pakistan, Bashir is both a short‑term gamble and a long-term investment. Stokes said: “I said to him the other day: ‘You’re getting to learn on the job here. You’re getting to learn about yourself as a bowler while you’re in a Test match, and how exciting is that?’” There is no guarantee of success, but it also promises to be quite exciting to watch.

Jamie Smith, also learning on the job, made a couple of embarrassing errors behind the stumps, a flubbed stumping in the first Test and a bungled catch in the second, and it is true that games can turn on such moments but he remains heavily in credit. Ben Duckett was excellent, Gus Atkinson similar, and Brydon Carse bowled superbly in extremely taxing conditions. For all the sense of crisis at its conclusion, there are plenty of positives to take out of the series.

Besides, it could be argued that this team, at least outside the Ashes, is not particularly focused on winning, that taking part in three brilliantly entertaining Tests was – and should be – a victory in itself. Results are not the only things that matter. As Shan Masood, the Pakistan captain, put it on Saturday: “I think they’re one of the best teams in the world. Sometimes scorecards can be a bad reflection of how good actually you are.”