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Brendon McCullum despised the label Bazball since it was coined, considering it overly simplistic and perhaps anticipating how it might be weaponised 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.

But the coach has not helped himself either. Following the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his claim that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While McCullum says he block out outside criticism, he will have been acutely aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and underprepared.

The reality, as ever, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their rivals and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in lighting conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Training

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the moment he blinked in his conviction that less is more. It meant a Test match's worth of mental energy was expended before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. While net practice are a chance to refine skills, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure work that simply maintains the reflexes sharp.

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

Match Deficiencies and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is in this area where England have thus far fallen well short. The issue is not just with the bat – harrowing as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has demonstrated the persistence or discipline that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

McCullum's unconventional approach was freeing during its initial year, an effective, well diagnosed remedy to shake off the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has apparently failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Spotlight and Team Dilemmas

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and has dropped two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Going by McCullum's comments after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a switch to a more familiar Test setting unleashes his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar day-night format now out of the way.

Another option is to implement the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand 12 months ago by moving the batsman down to his preferred position as a active No. 5 or 6, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. Bethell made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is perfect, with Australia's superior basics having shattered pre-series optimism and pushed the team's entire approach into the spotlight.