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Brendon McCullum loathed the label Bazball since it was coined, deeming it reductive and perhaps anticipating how it might be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of mockery from Australia.

However the coach has not helped himself either. Following the crushing loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the pink-ball match was like attempting to extinguish a bin fire with petrol. It could become his epitaph as England head coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his dedication to the philosophy. While McCullum claims to ignore outside criticism, he will have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared.

The reality, as ever, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days compared to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the instance he wavered in his belief that less is more. It suggested a significant amount of focus was expended before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. And though net practice are a chance to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Schedules are congested such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Shortcomings and Philosophical Stagnation

Only playing hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is here where England have thus far fallen well short. It is not only with the bat – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the patience or discipline that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have displayed.

The coach's unconventional approach was freeing during its initial year, an effective, well diagnosed solution to eradicate the torpor that preceded it. The disappointment now comes in how it has apparently failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Squad Focus and Selection Dilemmas

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and has dropped two key chances with the gloves. It probably does not help when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a masterful display.

Based on McCullum's comments after the match, England look likely to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – as is the case – is that a switch to a traditional Test setting triggers his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar 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 shifting Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active middle order player, handing him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is perfect, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and pushed the broader philosophy into the harsh glare of scrutiny.