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The England head coach loathed the moniker Bazball from its inception, considering it reductive and maybe anticipating how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Right now, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has contributed to the problem either. After the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' prior to the day-night Test was akin to trying to put out a bin fire with petrol. It could become his lasting legacy as England head coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his dedication to the philosophy. While he says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been all too aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The reality, as ever, is not so simple. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their rivals and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, completing five days compared to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Training

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the moment he wavered in his conviction that less is more. It suggested a significant amount of mental energy was used up before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's fortress. While net practice are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that simply maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (and no guarantee, as shown by England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the dismissal of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

Match Shortcomings and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they encounter, 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 shot selection has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has shown the patience or discipline that the otherworldly Mitchell Starc and his teammates have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit approach was liberating during its initial year, an effective, apt solution to eradicate the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now comes in how it has apparently not evolved past that point – an absence of an upgrade to the initial philosophy that has seen form taper off to an even record from their most recent matches.

Player Spotlight and Team Dilemmas

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, undoubtedly, but one who is being constantly tested on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities with the gloves. It probably does not help when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a masterful performance.

Based on McCullum's words after the match, England look likely to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – as is the case – is that a return to a more familiar match environment unleashes his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option 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 wicketkeeping duties, and picking a fresh face at first drop. A young contender made some runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is perfect, with Australia's better fundamentals having shattered expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the spotlight.