🔗 Share this article

Brendon McCullum loathed the label Bazball the moment it emerged, deeming it overly simplistic and maybe foreseeing how it could be weaponised in the future. Currently, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has become the butt of mockery from Australia.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. Following the gut-wrenching loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' before the pink-ball match was like attempting to extinguish a rubbish fire with petrol. It risks becoming his epitaph as national coach if results do not take an upturn.

On one level, one must admire his commitment to the bit. While he says he block out external noise, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and underprepared.

The reality, as ever, is not so simple. England play as much golf during their scheduled breaks as their rivals and they train just as much. Before the Gabba Test, they did more, completing five days to Australia's three, given their limited experience to the pink Kookaburra ball and the different seeing conditions.

The Debate of Readiness and Training

The coach's point about being "excessively ready" was that those additional training days were his decision – the moment he blinked in his belief that less is more. It suggested a significant amount of focus was used up before they even stepped out in the intensity of Australia's fortress. And though net practice are a chance to refine skills, they can also become a safety blanket; low-pressure activity that simply keeps the reactions quick.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were unavailable (with uncertain value, when you consider England playing 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 more broadly, as shown by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

Match Deficiencies and Strategic Lack of Evolution

Match practice alone prepares cricketers for the many situations they encounter, and it is here where England have thus far fallen well short. The issue is not just with the batting – as poor as some of the shot selection has been – but an attack that seems leaderless. None has shown the persistence or discipline that the exceptional Australian paceman and his support cast have displayed.

The coach's unconventional approach was liberating during its first 12 months, an excellent, well diagnosed solution to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. The frustration now stems from how it has seemingly not evolved past that initial phase – an absence of an upgrade to the initial philosophy that has seen form taper off to an even record from their last 30 Tests.

Player Spotlight and Team Decisions

One such player is the wicketkeeper-batter, a gifted player, undoubtedly, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two crucial opportunities as wicketkeeper. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just delivered a masterful display.

Going by McCullum's words after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The expectation – as is the case – is that a switch to a traditional match environment unleashes his top form, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unusual floodlit Test now out of the way.

Another option is to enact the plan discovered during the series win in New Zealand 12 months ago by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a busy No. 5 or 6, giving him the gloves, and picking a new No 3. Bethell made some runs for the Lions over the weekend, or maybe Will Jacks could perform a comparable function to the former spinner in 2023.

Ultimately, none of this is ideal, however Australia's superior basics having shattered pre-series optimism and pushed the team's entire approach into the spotlight.