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Brendon McCullum despised the moniker Bazball the moment it emerged, viewing it as reductive and perhaps anticipating how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that began with great expectations, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. Following the gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' before the pink-ball match was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It risks becoming his epitaph as England head coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. While he claims to ignore external noise, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The reality, as always, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, logging 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 Practice

McCullum's point about being "over-prepared" was that those five extra days were his decision – the moment he blinked in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It meant a significant amount of focus was used up before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's fortress. While nets are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure activity that simply maintains the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and uncertain value, when you consider England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the dismissal of county championship cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

On-Field Deficiencies and Philosophical Stagnation

Match practice alone prepares 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 bat – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. None has demonstrated the persistence or control that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his teammates have displayed.

McCullum's unconventional outlook was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed solution to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now comes in how it has apparently failed to move beyond that initial phase – the lack of an second phase to the original software that has seen results decline to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Spotlight and Selection Decisions

Among them is Jamie Smith, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and missed two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just produced a virtuoso performance.

Going by the coach's comments after the match, England appear set to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – as is the case – is that a switch to a traditional Test setting unleashes his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now in the past.

The alternative is to enact the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand last year by moving the batsman down to his preferred position as a active No. 5 or 6, handing him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is perfect, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.