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The England head coach detested the term Bazball from its inception, deeming it reductive and maybe anticipating how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Right now, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with great expectations, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However the coach has contributed to the problem either. After the crushing defeat 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 petrol. It could become his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not improve.

On one level, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum says he ignore external noise, he will have been acutely aware of an England team often described as carefree and underprepared.

The reality, as always, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his call – the moment he blinked in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It suggested a Test match's worth of focus was used up before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's stronghold. While net practice are a opportunity to iron out skills, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that pre-series state games 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 disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by a young player's unproductive season.

On-Field Deficiencies and Philosophical Stagnation

Only playing prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far been found lacking. The issue is not just 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 control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit approach was freeing during its first 12 months, an excellent, apt remedy to eradicate the lethargy that came before. The disappointment now comes in how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen results decline to an even record from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Team Dilemmas

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and has dropped 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 words in the aftermath, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a switch to a traditional match environment unleashes his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual floodlit Test now in the past.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a active No. 5 or 6, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

In the end, these changes is ideal, however Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and pushed the team's entire approach into the spotlight.