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Brendon McCullum detested the moniker Bazball since it was coined, viewing it as overly simplistic and maybe foreseeing how it might be weaponised down the line. Right now, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with great expectations, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However the coach has not helped himself either. Following the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to attempting to extinguish a bin fire with petrol. It risks becoming his epitaph as England head coach if performances do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum says he ignore external noise, he will have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared.

The truth, as ever, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their rivals and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days compared to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Readiness 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 minimal preparation is best. It meant a significant amount of mental energy was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. While nets are a chance to refine skills, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Fixtures are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (and uncertain value, as shown by England playing three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by a young player's unproductive season.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Stagnation

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they walk out to face, 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 bowling attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has shown the persistence or control that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his teammates have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to shake off the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen results taper off to an even record from their most recent matches.

Squad Spotlight and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just produced a masterful performance.

Based on the coach's words in the aftermath, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a traditional match environment triggers his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual floodlit Test now in the past.

Another option is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a active middle order player, handing him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell made some runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is ideal, however Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the broader philosophy into the harsh glare of scrutiny.