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The England head coach detested the label Bazball since it was coined, viewing it as reductive and perhaps anticipating how it might be used as a weapon in the future. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an away Ashes series that began with great expectations, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

However the coach has not helped himself either. After the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his claim that, if anything, England were 'too prepared' before the day-night Test was like attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It could become his epitaph as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

In a way, you almost have to admire his dedication to the philosophy. As much as he says he block out external noise, he will have been all too 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 scheduled breaks as their rivals and they practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days compared to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the changes in lighting conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Practice

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those five extra days were his call – the instance he wavered in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It suggested a significant amount of focus was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. And though nets are a opportunity to refine technique, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that mainly keeps the reflexes sharp.

Schedules are congested such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with uncertain value, when you consider England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the dismissal of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, evidenced by a young player's wasted summer.

On-Field Deficiencies and Strategic Stagnation

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the various scenarios they walk out to face, and it is here where England have so far fallen well short. It is not only with the batting – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. None has demonstrated the patience or discipline that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

The coach's free-spirit 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 seemingly not evolved past that point – the lack of an second phase to the original software that has seen form decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is Jamie Smith, a gifted player, undoubtedly, 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 opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just produced a virtuoso display.

Based on the coach's words after the match, England appear set to keep the faith with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a more familiar Test setting triggers his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now in the past.

The alternative is to enact the plan stumbled across during the victorious series in New Zealand last year by moving the batsman down to his preferred position as a active middle order player, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and picking a fresh face at first drop. A young contender made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, these changes is perfect, with Australia's superior basics having destroyed expectations and forced the broader philosophy into the harsh glare of scrutiny.