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Brendon McCullum despised the term Bazball from its inception, viewing it as reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it might be weaponised 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 mockery from Australia.

However McCullum has contributed to the problem either. Following the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' prior to the day-night Test was like attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It could become his epitaph as England head coach if results do not take an upturn.

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

The truth, as ever, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their opponents and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days compared to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink Kookaburra ball and the changes in lighting conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his call – the instance he wavered in his belief that less is more. It meant a Test match's worth of focus was expended 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 simply maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and no guarantee, when you consider England playing three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise in general, evidenced by a young player's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they walk out to face, and it is here where England have thus far been found lacking. It is not only with the batting – as poor as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. None has demonstrated the persistence or discipline that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his support cast have delivered.

McCullum's unconventional outlook was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. The disappointment 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 form decline to an even record from their last 30 Tests.

Player Spotlight and Selection Decisions

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and missed two crucial opportunities with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Going by McCullum's words in the aftermath, England appear set to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – as is the case – is that a return to a more familiar Test setting unleashes his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar day-night format now out of the way.

The alternative is to enact the plan discovered 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 gloves, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. A young contender made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is ideal, however Australia's superior basics having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the spotlight.