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Brendon McCullum detested the term 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 away Ashes series that started with great expectations, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

However the coach has contributed to the problem either. Following the gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' prior to the pink-ball match was akin to attempting to extinguish a bin fire with gasoline. It could become his epitaph as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his dedication to the philosophy. While McCullum says he ignore external noise, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and underprepared.

The truth, as always, is more nuanced. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their rivals and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days compared to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his call – the instance he blinked in his belief that less is more. It suggested a significant amount of mental energy was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. And though net practice are a opportunity to iron out technique, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence activity that mainly keeps the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and uncertain value, when you consider England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

Match Shortcomings and Philosophical Stagnation

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far been found lacking. It is not only with the bat – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the patience or discipline that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit approach was liberating during its initial year, an excellent, apt solution to eradicate the lethargy that came before. The frustration now comes in how it has apparently not evolved past that point – the lack of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen form decline to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Team Dilemmas

Among them is Jamie Smith, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso performance.

Going by the coach's comments 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 Test setting unleashes his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now out of the way.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand 12 months ago by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a busy middle order player, giving him the gloves, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. A young contender made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is ideal, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.