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The England head coach despised the label Bazball since it was coined, deeming it overly simplistic and perhaps foreseeing how it could be weaponised in the future. Right now, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that started with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

But the coach has not helped himself either. After the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was like trying to put out a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if performances do not improve.

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

The truth, as always, is not so simple. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their opponents and they train just as much. Before the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Preparation and Practice

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the instance he wavered in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It suggested a Test match's worth of focus was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. While nets are a opportunity to refine skills, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly keeps the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (and no guarantee, when you consider England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Deficiencies and Philosophical Stagnation

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they walk out to face, and it is in this area 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 leaderless. None has shown the patience or discipline that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his teammates have displayed.

McCullum's free-spirit approach was liberating during its initial year, an excellent, apt solution to eradicate the torpor that came before. The frustration now stems from how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an upgrade to the initial philosophy that has seen results decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Selection Decisions

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities with the gloves. It probably does not help when your counterpart, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso performance.

Based on McCullum's comments after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – as is the case – is that a return to a more familiar match environment triggers his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand 12 months ago by moving Ollie Pope down to his preferred position as a active No. 5 or 6, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a new No 3. Bethell made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

In the end, these changes is ideal, however Australia's superior basics having destroyed expectations and forced the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.