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Brendon McCullum despised the label Bazball from its inception, considering it reductive and maybe foreseeing how it might be weaponised down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that began with great expectations, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

But McCullum has not helped himself either. After the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was like attempting to extinguish a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as he claims to block out outside criticism, he will have been all too aware of an England team often described as carefree and underprepared.

The truth, as always, is not so simple. 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, given their limited experience to the pink ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Practice

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his call – the instance he blinked 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 stronghold. While net practice are a chance to refine technique, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure work that mainly maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (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 dismissal of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, as shown by a young player's unproductive season.

Match Shortcomings and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Only playing prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they walk out to face, and it is in this area where England have thus far fallen well short. It is not only with the batting – harrowing as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has shown the patience or discipline that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have displayed.

McCullum's free-spirit approach was freeing during its initial year, an effective, well diagnosed solution to shake off the lethargy that came before. The frustration now stems from how it has seemingly not evolved past that initial phase – an absence of an second phase to the original software that has seen results decline to an even record from their last 30 Tests.

Player Focus and Selection Decisions

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a masterful display.

Based on McCullum'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 more familiar match environment triggers his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now out of the way.

The alternative is to enact the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand last year by moving the batsman down to his more natural home as a busy No. 5 or 6, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell scored runs for the Lions recently, or perhaps Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is ideal, with Australia's better fundamentals having shattered expectations and forced the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.