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The England head coach loathed the label Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it overly simplistic and maybe foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon down the line. Right now, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

However the coach has not helped himself either. Following the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his claim that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to trying to put out a bin fire with gasoline. It could become his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not improve.

In a way, you almost have to admire his dedication to the philosophy. As much as McCullum claims to block out outside criticism, he will have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The reality, as always, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their rivals and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days to Australia's three, given their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Preparation 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 minimal preparation is best. It meant a significant amount of mental energy was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. While nets are a opportunity to iron out technique, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence work that simply maintains the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (with uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the dismissal of county championship cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Strategic Stagnation

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. 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 shown the patience or discipline that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his teammates have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit approach was freeing during its first 12 months, an effective, apt remedy to eradicate the torpor that came before. The disappointment now comes in how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an second phase to the original software that has seen results taper off to an even record from their most recent matches.

Squad Spotlight and Team Decisions

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. It probably does not help when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just produced a masterful display.

Going by the coach'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 traditional Test setting triggers his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual floodlit Test now in the past.

The alternative is to implement the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand 12 months ago by shifting the batsman down to his preferred position as a busy middle order player, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

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