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The England head coach loathed the moniker Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon in the future. Right now, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. After the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'too prepared' before the pink-ball match was like trying to put out a bin fire with petrol. It could become his epitaph as England head coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been acutely aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and lacking preparation.

The reality, as ever, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their necessary down time as their rivals and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink ball and the different lighting conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Training

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his decision – the instance he wavered in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It meant a Test match's worth of focus was used up before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's fortress. While nets are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that simply keeps the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that pre-series state games were not possible (with uncertain value, as shown by England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the dismissal of county championship 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 many situations they walk out to face, and it is here where England have thus far been found lacking. The issue is not just with the batting – as poor as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. None has demonstrated the patience or control that the otherworldly Mitchell Starc and his support cast have delivered.

The coach's unconventional outlook was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, apt remedy to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has apparently failed to move beyond that initial phase – an absence of an second phase to the original software that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Player Spotlight and Selection Decisions

One such player is Jamie Smith, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being constantly tested on both edges and has dropped two crucial opportunities with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a virtuoso display.

Going by the coach's comments 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 traditional match environment triggers his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar day-night format now in the past.

The alternative is to implement the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by moving Ollie Pope down to his preferred position as a busy middle order player, giving him the gloves, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. A young contender made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe an all-rounder could perform a similar role to the former spinner in 2023.

In the end, none of this is ideal, however Australia's superior basics having shattered pre-series optimism and pushed the broader philosophy into the spotlight.