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Brendon McCullum loathed the label Bazball the moment it emerged, considering it overly simplistic and maybe foreseeing how it might be weaponised down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of mockery from Australia.

However the coach has contributed to the problem either. Following the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his claim that, if anything, England were 'too prepared' prior to the day-night Test was akin to trying to put out a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as England head coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his dedication to the philosophy. While he says he block out outside criticism, he will have been acutely aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and underprepared.

The truth, as always, is not so simple. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his call – 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 took the field in the cauldron of Australia's stronghold. And though nets are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

On-Field Shortcomings and Strategic Stagnation

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is here where England have thus far fallen well short. The issue is not just with the bat – as poor 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 Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now stems from how it has apparently failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on each side of the bat and missed two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Based on McCullum's comments in the aftermath, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – as is the case – is that a return to a traditional Test setting triggers his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now out of the way.

The alternative is to enact the plan stumbled across during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by moving the batsman down to his more natural home as a active No. 5 or 6, giving him the gloves, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. Bethell scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a similar role to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is ideal, with Australia's superior basics having destroyed expectations and pushed the broader philosophy into the spotlight.