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The England head coach despised the term Bazball from its inception, considering it overly simplistic and perhaps foreseeing how it could be used as a weapon in the future. Right now, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that started with high hopes, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has contributed to the problem either. After the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his insistence that, if anything, England were 'too prepared' prior to the day-night Test was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as England head coach if performances do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum claims to block out external noise, he will have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as carefree and underprepared.

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

The Question of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his call – the instance he blinked in his belief that less is more. It meant a significant amount of mental energy was expended before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's fortress. While net practice are a chance to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that mainly keeps the reflexes sharp.

Schedules are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (with uncertain value, when you consider England playing three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise more broadly, evidenced by a young player's wasted summer.

On-Field Shortcomings and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Only playing prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is here where England have so 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 leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the patience or control that the exceptional Australian paceman and his teammates have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit approach was liberating during its first 12 months, an effective, apt solution to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now comes in how it has apparently failed to move beyond that point – an absence of an second phase to the original software that has seen results taper off to an even record from their last 30 Tests.

Squad Spotlight and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, undoubtedly, but one who is being constantly tested on each side of the bat and has dropped two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just produced a masterful display.

Going by 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 more familiar Test setting triggers his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual day-night format now in the past.

Another option is to implement the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand 12 months ago by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active middle order player, giving him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. Bethell made some runs for the Lions recently, or maybe an all-rounder could fulfil a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

Ultimately, these changes is perfect, however Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the spotlight.