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Brendon McCullum loathed the term Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it overly simplistic and maybe anticipating how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, trailing 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 gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, 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 epitaph as England head coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, you almost have to admire his dedication to the philosophy. While he says he ignore external noise, he will have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared.

The truth, as ever, is more nuanced. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Training

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his decision – the moment he blinked in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It suggested a Test match's worth of mental energy was used up before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. And though nets are a opportunity to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that simply maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are tight such that pre-series state games were not possible (with no guarantee, as shown by England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Stagnation

Only playing prepares cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is here where England have thus far fallen well short. It is not only with the bat – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an bowling attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has demonstrated the patience or control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit approach was liberating during its first 12 months, an effective, apt remedy to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has seemingly failed to move beyond that point – an absence of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen form taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Focus and Team Dilemmas

Among them is Jamie Smith, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your counterpart, Alex Carey, has just produced a virtuoso performance.

Going by McCullum's comments in the aftermath, England appear set to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a switch to a traditional Test setting unleashes his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option is to enact the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a busy middle order player, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is ideal, with Australia's superior basics having destroyed expectations and pushed the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.