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Brendon McCullum detested the label Bazball since it was coined, considering it reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has contributed to the problem either. After the gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the pink-ball match was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It could become his lasting legacy as England head coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While he claims to block out outside criticism, he will have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and underprepared.

The truth, as ever, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their necessary down time as their rivals and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, logging five days compared to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the changes in lighting conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Practice

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his decision – the instance he wavered in his conviction that less is more. It meant a Test match's worth of mental energy was expended before they even stepped out in the cauldron of Australia's stronghold. While nets are a chance to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence work that simply keeps the reactions quick.

Schedules are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (with no guarantee, when you consider England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the dismissal of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, evidenced by a young player's unproductive season.

Match Shortcomings and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is here where England have thus far fallen well short. It is not only with the bat – harrowing as some of the shot selection has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has demonstrated the patience or control that the otherworldly Mitchell Starc and his teammates have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit approach was liberating during its initial year, an effective, apt solution to shake off the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has seemingly not evolved past that point – the lack of an upgrade to the original software that has seen form decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Squad Focus and Team Decisions

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and missed two crucial opportunities with the gloves. It probably does not help when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just produced a virtuoso display.

Based on McCullum's words in the aftermath, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a traditional Test setting triggers his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now in the past.

Another option is to enact the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand 12 months ago by shifting Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active No. 5 or 6, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a fresh face at first drop. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, these changes is perfect, however Australia's superior basics having destroyed pre-series optimism and pushed the broader philosophy into the spotlight.