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Brendon McCullum loathed the label Bazball the moment it emerged, considering it reductive and perhaps anticipating how it could be used as a weapon in the future. Currently, down 2-0 in an away Ashes series that started with great expectations, it has turned into the subject of mockery from Australia.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. After the crushing loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the pink-ball match was akin to attempting to extinguish a bin fire with gasoline. It could become his epitaph as England head coach if performances do not improve.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While McCullum says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared.

The reality, as always, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days compared to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Practice

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those five extra days were his decision – the instance he wavered in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It meant a significant amount of focus was used up before they even stepped out in the cauldron of Australia's stronghold. While nets are a chance to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure activity that simply maintains the reflexes sharp.

Schedules are tight such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with uncertain value, when you consider England playing three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by a young player's wasted summer.

On-Field Deficiencies and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is here where England have so far fallen well short. It is not only with the bat – 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 control that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his support cast have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit outlook was liberating during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now stems from how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Player Spotlight and Team Dilemmas

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two crucial opportunities with the gloves. It probably does not help when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just produced a virtuoso performance.

Going by McCullum's comments in the aftermath, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a more familiar match environment unleashes his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual day-night format now in the past.

Another option is to implement the plan stumbled across during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a busy No. 5 or 6, giving him the gloves, and picking a new No 3. A young contender made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a similar role to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, these changes is perfect, however Australia's superior basics having shattered pre-series optimism and pushed the broader philosophy into the spotlight.