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Brendon McCullum loathed the label Bazball the moment it emerged, viewing it as reductive and perhaps anticipating how it might 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 Australian jokes.

But McCullum has contributed to the problem either. Following the crushing loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' prior to the pink-ball match was like attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not improve.

On one level, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as he claims to block out external noise, he will have been all too aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The reality, as always, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they train just as much. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days compared to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his decision – the instance he blinked in his conviction that less is more. It suggested 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 net practice are a opportunity to refine skills, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that mainly keeps the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (and uncertain value, as shown by England playing 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 more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

Match Shortcomings and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they walk out to face, and it is here where England have thus far fallen well short. The issue is not just with the batting – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has demonstrated the persistence or control that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his support cast have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit approach was freeing during its first 12 months, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen form taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Focus and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso 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 more familiar Test setting unleashes his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now in the past.

The alternative is to enact the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand last year by shifting Ollie Pope down to his preferred position as a busy middle order player, handing him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could fulfil a similar role to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, these changes is perfect, with Australia's better fundamentals having shattered pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the spotlight.