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Brendon McCullum loathed the label Bazball since it was coined, viewing it as overly simplistic and perhaps foreseeing how it might be weaponised down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that began with great expectations, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

But the coach has not helped himself either. Following the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'too prepared' prior to the pink-ball match was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It could become his epitaph as national coach if results do not improve.

On one level, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While he says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and lacking preparation.

The truth, as always, is not so simple. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their rivals and they train just as much. Before the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Preparation and Practice

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the moment he wavered in his conviction that less is more. It suggested a significant amount of focus was used up before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's fortress. And though nets are a chance to iron out skills, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence work that simply maintains the reactions quick.

Schedules are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (and uncertain value, as shown by England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Strategic Stagnation

Only playing hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far fallen well short. It is not only with the batting – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. None has shown the patience or control that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his support cast have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit approach was liberating during its first 12 months, an effective, well diagnosed solution to eradicate the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that point – the lack of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results decline to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Team Decisions

Among them is Jamie Smith, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and has dropped two key chances with the gloves. It probably does not help when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Based on the coach's comments in the aftermath, England look likely to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a more familiar Test setting unleashes his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option is to implement the plan discovered 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, giving him the gloves, and picking a new No 3. Bethell scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is ideal, with Australia's better fundamentals having shattered expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.