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Brendon McCullum loathed the moniker Bazball since it was coined, deeming it overly simplistic and perhaps foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon in the future. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that started with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of mockery from Australia.

However the coach has contributed to the problem either. Following the gut-wrenching defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to attempting to extinguish a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as England head coach if performances do not improve.

On one level, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. While McCullum says he block out external noise, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and lacking preparation.

The reality, as always, is not so simple. England enjoy golf just as much during their scheduled breaks as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different lighting conditions.

The Question 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 conviction that less is more. It meant a Test match's worth of focus was expended before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's stronghold. While net practice are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a safety blanket; zero consequence activity that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that pre-series state games 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 disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by a young player's wasted summer.

On-Field Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Only playing hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far been found lacking. It is not only with the batting – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems without a spearhead. None has shown the patience or discipline that the otherworldly Mitchell Starc and his teammates have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit approach was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed solution to shake off the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now comes in how it has seemingly not evolved past that point – the lack of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Squad Spotlight and Team Dilemmas

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges 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 words after the match, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – as is the case – is that a return to a traditional match environment unleashes his top form, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now in the past.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a busy No. 5 or 6, giving him the gloves, and picking a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe an all-rounder could perform a similar role to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is perfect, with Australia's superior basics having shattered pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the spotlight.