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The England head coach detested the label Bazball since it was coined, viewing it as reductive and maybe foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However the coach has not helped himself either. Following the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was like attempting to extinguish a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his epitaph as England head coach if results do not improve.

On one level, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. As much as he says he ignore external noise, he must have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared.

The reality, as ever, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, logging five days 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 "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his call – the instance he wavered in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It meant a Test match's worth of mental energy was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. And though nets are a opportunity to iron out technique, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence work that simply keeps the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the dismissal of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience in general, evidenced by a young player's unproductive season.

On-Field Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far been found lacking. It is not only with the batting – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the persistence or discipline that the exceptional Australian paceman and his support cast have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit outlook was liberating during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to shake off 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 form taper off to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Selection 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 with the gloves. It probably does not help when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso performance.

Based on the coach's comments in the aftermath, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – 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 unfamiliar day-night format now out of the way.

The alternative is to implement the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand last year by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a busy No. 5 or 6, giving him the gloves, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe an all-rounder could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is ideal, however Australia's better fundamentals having shattered pre-series optimism and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.