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Brendon McCullum detested the term Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it reductive and perhaps anticipating how it could be used as a weapon in the future. Currently, down 2-0 in an away Ashes series that started with high hopes, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However the coach has not helped himself either. After the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' prior to the day-night Test was like attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It could become his lasting legacy as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While McCullum says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and lacking preparation.

The reality, as ever, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days compared to Australia's three, given their lack of exposure to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Practice

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his call – the instance he blinked in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It suggested a significant amount of focus was used up before they even stepped out in the cauldron of Australia's fortress. And though net practice are a opportunity to iron out technique, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence work that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (with uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by a young player's wasted summer.

On-Field Shortcomings and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Only playing hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far fallen well short. It is not only with the bat – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has shown the persistence or discipline that the exceptional Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an effective, well diagnosed solution to shake off the lethargy that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has seemingly not evolved past that point – the lack of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen form taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Focus and Selection Decisions

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and has dropped two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Going by the coach's words in the aftermath, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – as is the case – is that a switch to a traditional Test setting unleashes 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 12 months ago by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a busy middle order player, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a new No 3. A young contender made some runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is perfect, however Australia's superior basics having destroyed expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.