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The England head coach despised the moniker Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it reductive and maybe foreseeing how it could be weaponised in the future. Right now, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

But McCullum 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 pink-ball match 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, you almost have to admire his dedication to the philosophy. As much as McCullum says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and underprepared.

The reality, as always, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their rivals and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days compared to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink ball and the different lighting 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 wavered in his conviction that less is more. It suggested a Test match's worth of mental energy was expended before they even stepped out in the cauldron of Australia's stronghold. And though net practice are a opportunity to iron out skills, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reflexes sharp.

Schedules are tight such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with no guarantee, when you consider 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 worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is here where England have so 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 leaderless. No bowler has shown the patience or control that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit outlook was liberating during its first 12 months, an effective, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now stems from how it has apparently not evolved past that initial phase – an absence of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Focus and Team Decisions

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just produced a masterful display.

Going by the coach's words after the match, England appear set to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a switch to a traditional Test setting unleashes his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual day-night format now in the past.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand last year by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active middle order player, handing him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps an all-rounder could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is ideal, however Australia's superior basics having destroyed expectations and pushed the team's entire approach into the spotlight.