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The England head coach despised the moniker Bazball the moment it emerged, viewing it as reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it could be weaponised in the future. Currently, 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 contributed to the problem 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 rubbish fire with gasoline. It could become his epitaph as national coach if performances do not improve.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as he says he block out external noise, he will have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The truth, as ever, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their rivals and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days compared to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his decision – the instance he blinked in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It meant a Test match's worth of focus was expended before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. While net practice are a chance to iron out 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 not possible (and uncertain value, when you consider England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Stagnation

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is here where England have so far fallen well short. It is not only with the batting – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has shown the patience or control that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his teammates have delivered.

The coach's unconventional outlook was freeing during its first 12 months, an effective, well diagnosed solution to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has seemingly not evolved past that initial phase – the lack of an upgrade to the initial philosophy that has seen results taper off to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Focus 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 key chances with the gloves. It probably does not help when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just produced a virtuoso display.

Going by McCullum's words after the match, 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 match environment 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 stumbled across during the victorious series in New Zealand 12 months ago by moving the batsman down to his preferred position as a active middle order player, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a fresh face at first drop. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could perform a similar role to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is perfect, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.