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Brendon McCullum despised the label Bazball the moment it emerged, considering it reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with great expectations, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. After 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 national coach if results do not take an upturn.

On one level, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. As much as he says he block out external noise, he will have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and underprepared.

The reality, as ever, 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, completing five days to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his decision – the moment he wavered in his conviction that less is more. It suggested a significant amount of focus was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. And though nets are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence work that mainly maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are tight such that pre-series state games were unavailable (and no guarantee, when you consider England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the dismissal of domestic red-ball cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

On-Field Shortcomings and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is here where England have so far fallen well short. The issue is not just with the batting – harrowing as some of the shot selection has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the persistence or control that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

The coach's unconventional approach was liberating during its first 12 months, an effective, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now comes in how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that point – the lack of an second phase to the original software that has seen results taper off to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and missed two key chances as wicketkeeper. It probably does not help when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Based on McCullum's comments after the match, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a more familiar Test setting triggers his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand 12 months ago by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a busy No. 5 or 6, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell made some runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is ideal, with Australia's superior basics having shattered pre-series optimism and pushed the broader philosophy into the harsh glare of scrutiny.