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The England head coach loathed the term Bazball the moment it emerged, viewing it as reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it could be weaponised down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with great expectations, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

But the coach has not helped himself either. After the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' prior to the day-night Test was like attempting to extinguish a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his dedication to the philosophy. As much as McCullum says he block out outside criticism, he will have been all too aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The reality, 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, due to their limited experience to the pink Kookaburra ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those five extra days were his call – the instance he blinked 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 net practice are a chance to iron out skills, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure work that simply maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are congested such that pre-series state games 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 dismissal of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, evidenced by a young player's wasted summer.

On-Field Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is here where England have so far been found lacking. The issue is not just with the bat – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. None has demonstrated the persistence or control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have displayed.

McCullum'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 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 form decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Team Dilemmas

One such player is Jamie Smith, a gifted player, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and missed two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just produced a virtuoso display.

Going by the coach's words after the match, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a more familiar match environment triggers his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar day-night format now out of the way.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active middle order player, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a fresh face at first drop. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is perfect, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed expectations and pushed the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.