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The England head coach despised the label Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it overly simplistic and perhaps anticipating how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Right now, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that started with great expectations, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. Following the gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his claim that, if anything, England were 'too prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to trying to put out a rubbish fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not improve.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While he says he block out external noise, he must have been all too aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and underprepared.

The truth, as always, is more nuanced. England play as much golf during their necessary down time as their opponents and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink Kookaburra ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Practice

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his call – the instance he wavered in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It suggested a Test match's worth of mental energy was expended before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's fortress. And though nets are a chance to refine technique, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure activity that mainly keeps the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and uncertain value, as shown by England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Strategic Stagnation

Only playing prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is here where England have so far fallen well short. It is not only with the bat – as poor as some of the decision-making has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. None has shown the persistence or control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an effective, apt remedy to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an second phase to the original software that has seen form decline to an even record from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Selection Decisions

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and missed two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just produced a masterful display.

Going by the coach's words after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a traditional Test setting unleashes his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now out of the way.

The alternative is to enact the plan stumbled across during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting the batsman down to his preferred position as a active No. 5 or 6, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a similar role to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is ideal, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.