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Brendon McCullum despised the label Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it overly simplistic and maybe foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon in the future. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

But the coach has not helped himself either. Following the crushing loss at the Gabba, his claim that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' prior to the pink-ball match was like trying to put out a rubbish fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his epitaph as national coach if results do not take an upturn.

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

The truth, as always, is more nuanced. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their rivals and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink ball and the different lighting conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his decision – the instance he wavered in his conviction 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 fortress. While nets are a opportunity to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly keeps the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that pre-series state games were unavailable (and no guarantee, as shown by England playing three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise in general, as shown by a young player's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is in this area where England have so far been found lacking. It is not only with the bat – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the persistence or control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an effective, well diagnosed solution to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen form decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Squad Spotlight and Team Dilemmas

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and has dropped two crucial opportunities with the gloves. It probably does not help when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Going by the coach's comments after the match, England appear set to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a traditional Test setting triggers his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

The alternative is to implement the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand last year by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a busy middle order player, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

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