🔗 Share this article

The England head coach despised the moniker Bazball from its inception, deeming it overly simplistic and perhaps anticipating how it could be used as a weapon down the line. Right now, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

But McCullum has contributed to the problem either. After the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' prior to the day-night Test was akin to trying to put out a bin fire with petrol. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, you almost have to admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum claims to ignore external noise, he will have been all too aware of an England team often described as freewheeling and underprepared.

The reality, as ever, is more nuanced. England play as much golf during their necessary down time as their rivals and they train just as much. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days compared to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "over-prepared" was that those additional training days were his call – the moment he wavered in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It meant a significant amount of mental energy was used up before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's fortress. While net practice are a chance to iron out skills, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence work that simply keeps the reactions quick.

Schedules are congested such that pre-series state games were not possible (and uncertain value, when you consider England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the dismissal of domestic red-ball cricket as a valuable experience more broadly, evidenced by Jacob Bethell's wasted summer.

On-Field Deficiencies and Strategic Stagnation

Only playing hardens cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is in this area where England have so far been found lacking. The issue is not just with the bat – as poor as some of the decision-making has been – but an bowling attack that seems without a spearhead. No bowler has shown the persistence or discipline that the otherworldly Mitchell Starc and his teammates have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its first 12 months, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the torpor that came before. The disappointment now stems from how it has seemingly not evolved past that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the original software that has seen form decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Spotlight and Team Dilemmas

Among them is Jamie Smith, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two crucial opportunities with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a virtuoso performance.

Going by McCullum's words in the aftermath, England look likely to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – as is the case – is that a switch to a more familiar match environment triggers his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unusual day-night format now out of the way.

The alternative is to enact the plan discovered during the victorious series in New Zealand 12 months ago by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active No. 5 or 6, handing him the gloves, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. Bethell scored runs for the Lions over the weekend, or perhaps Will Jacks could perform a similar role to the former spinner in 2023.

In the end, none of this is perfect, with Australia's superior basics having shattered expectations and forced the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.