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Brendon McCullum detested the label Bazball the moment it emerged, considering it reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, down 2-0 in an away Ashes series that began with great expectations, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However the coach has not helped himself either. After the crushing loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' prior to the pink-ball match was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with gasoline. It could become his epitaph as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, you almost have to admire his dedication to the philosophy. As much as McCullum says he block out external noise, he will have been all too aware of an England team often described as carefree and underprepared.

The truth, as always, is not so simple. England play as much golf 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 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 meant a significant amount of focus was used up before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's fortress. While nets are a chance to refine skills, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (with no guarantee, when you consider England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is in this area where England have so far been found lacking. The issue is not just with the batting – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. None has shown the patience or control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

McCullum's unconventional outlook was freeing during its first 12 months, an excellent, apt remedy to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an upgrade to the initial philosophy that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Team Decisions

Among them 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 opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a masterful performance.

Going by McCullum's comments after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a switch to a traditional Test setting unleashes his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar day-night format now in the past.

The alternative is to implement the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand 12 months ago by shifting the batsman down to his preferred position as a busy middle order player, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or perhaps an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is perfect, however Australia's superior basics having shattered expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.