🔗 Share this article

The England head coach despised the label Bazball since it was coined, deeming it reductive and perhaps foreseeing how it could be weaponised in the future. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with great expectations, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However the coach has contributed to the problem either. After the crushing defeat at the Gabba, his claim that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' before the pink-ball match was like trying to put out a bin fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as national coach if results do not take an upturn.

In a way, one must admire his dedication to the philosophy. While McCullum claims to block out outside criticism, he will 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 practice equally hard. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the different lighting conditions.

The Debate of Preparation and Practice

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the moment he blinked in his belief that less is more. It suggested a Test match's worth of focus was used up before they even took the field in the cauldron of Australia's fortress. While nets are a chance to iron out skills, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure activity that mainly maintains the reactions quick.

Fixtures are tight such that pre-series state games were not possible (and uncertain value, when you consider 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 more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

Match Shortcomings and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Only playing hardens cricketers for the various scenarios they encounter, and it is in this area where England have thus far been found lacking. It is not only with the bat – as poor as some of the decision-making has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. None has shown the patience or control that the otherworldly Mitchell Starc and his support cast have displayed.

McCullum's unconventional approach was freeing during its initial year, an effective, apt remedy to shake off the torpor that came before. The disappointment now stems from how it has apparently failed to move beyond that point – an absence of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen form decline to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Squad Spotlight and Team Decisions

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, undoubtedly, 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 masterful display.

Based on the coach's comments in the aftermath, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – as is the case – is that a return to a more familiar Test setting triggers his best, with Perth's trampoline surface and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option is to implement the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand last year by moving the batsman down to his preferred position as a busy middle order player, giving him the gloves, and selecting a new No 3. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could fulfil a similar role 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.