🔗 Share this article

Brendon McCullum loathed the moniker Bazball since it was coined, viewing it as overly simplistic and maybe anticipating how it might be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, trailing 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with great expectations, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However the coach has not helped himself either. After the crushing loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'over-prepared' prior to the day-night Test was like trying to put out a rubbish fire with gasoline. It risks becoming his lasting legacy as England head coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as he claims to ignore external noise, he must have been all too aware of an England team often described as carefree and lacking preparation.

The truth, 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. Prior to the Gabba Test, they trained for longer, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Debate of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his call – the moment he blinked in his belief that minimal preparation is best. It meant a significant amount of focus was expended before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. While net practice are a chance to refine skills, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure work that simply keeps the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are congested such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with no guarantee, as shown by England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the dismissal of county championship cricket as a worthwhile exercise in general, evidenced by a young player's unproductive season.

Match Shortcomings and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is here 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 control that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his support cast have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit approach was liberating during its first 12 months, an effective, well diagnosed solution to shake off the torpor that preceded it. The frustration now comes in how it has seemingly not evolved past that point – the lack of an upgrade to the original software that has seen results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their most recent matches.

Player Focus and Team Dilemmas

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and has dropped two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. It probably does not help when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just delivered a masterful performance.

Going by McCullum's comments in the aftermath, 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 match environment triggers his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option is to enact the plan stumbled across during the victorious series in New Zealand 12 months ago by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a active middle order player, giving him the gloves, and picking a new No 3. Bethell scored runs for the Lions recently, or maybe Will Jacks could fulfil a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is perfect, however Australia's superior basics having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.