🔗 Share this article

The England head coach loathed the moniker Bazball from its inception, viewing it as overly simplistic and maybe foreseeing how it might be used as a weapon in the future. Currently, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that started with high hopes, it has turned into the subject of Australian jokes.

But McCullum has not helped himself either. After the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his claim that, if anything, England were 'over-prepared' before the day-night Test was akin to attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It could become his lasting legacy as national coach if performances do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his commitment to the bit. As much as McCullum claims to block out external noise, he will have been acutely aware of an England team often described as carefree and underprepared.

The truth, as ever, is more nuanced. England enjoy golf just as much during their necessary down time as their opponents and they practice equally hard. Prior to the Gabba Test, they did more, logging five days compared to Australia's three, given their lack of exposure to the pink ball and the different lighting conditions.

The Question of Preparation and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his decision – the moment he wavered in his conviction that less is more. It meant a Test match's worth of focus was expended before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's fortress. And though nets are a chance to refine skills, they can also become a comfort zone; zero consequence activity that simply maintains the reactions quick.

Schedules are tight such that pre-series state games were unavailable (with uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the whitewash in 2013-14). What is harder to square is the disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

On-Field Deficiencies and Philosophical Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone hardens cricketers for the many situations they walk out to face, and it is here where England have so far been found lacking. The issue is not just with the batting – harrowing as some of the shot selection has been – but an attack that seems without a spearhead. None has demonstrated the patience or control that the exceptional Mitchell Starc and his support cast have displayed.

The coach's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an effective, apt remedy to eradicate the torpor that came before. The disappointment now stems from how it has seemingly not evolved past that initial phase – the lack of an second phase to the initial philosophy that has seen results decline to an even record from their most recent matches.

Squad Focus and Selection Dilemmas

Among them is the wicketkeeper-batter, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on both edges and missed two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, the Australian keeper, has just produced a virtuoso performance.

Going by the coach's comments in the aftermath, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – similar to the broader situation – is that a return to a traditional 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 discovered during the series win in New Zealand last year by moving Ollie Pope down to his more natural home as a active No. 5 or 6, handing him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. A young contender scored runs for the Lions recently, or perhaps an all-rounder could perform a comparable function to Moeen Ali in 2023.

In the end, none of this is ideal, with Australia's better fundamentals having destroyed pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the spotlight.