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Brendon McCullum detested the term Bazball since it was coined, deeming it overly simplistic and maybe anticipating how it could be weaponised down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has contributed to the problem either. After the gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to attempting to extinguish a bin fire with petrol. It could become his lasting legacy as England head coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum says he block out outside criticism, he must have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The truth, as always, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different lighting conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Training

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his decision – the instance he blinked in his belief that less is more. It meant a significant amount of mental energy was used up before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. And though nets are a opportunity to refine technique, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence activity that mainly keeps the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and no guarantee, when you consider England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the dismissal of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

On-Field Shortcomings and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Only playing prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is here where England have thus far been found lacking. It is not only 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 Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit approach was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an upgrade to the initial philosophy that has seen results decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Team Dilemmas

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and missed two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Going by McCullum's words after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a traditional Test setting triggers his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual floodlit Test now in the past.

Another option is to enact the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by moving Ollie Pope down to his preferred position as a busy middle order player, giving him the gloves, and picking a new No 3. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, these changes is ideal, however Australia's better fundamentals having shattered expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.