🔗 Share this article

Brendon McCullum loathed the term Bazball the moment it emerged, viewing it as overly simplistic and maybe anticipating how it might be used as a weapon down the line. Currently, down 2-0 in an Test series in Australia that began with high hopes, it has become the butt of Australian jokes.

However McCullum has not helped himself either. Following the crushing loss at the Gabba, his insistence that, if there was an issue, England were 'too prepared' prior to the pink-ball match was like trying to put out a bin fire with petrol. It risks becoming his epitaph as national coach if performances do not improve.

On one level, you almost have to admire his dedication to the philosophy. While McCullum says he ignore outside criticism, he must have been all too aware of an England team increasingly characterised as freewheeling and lacking preparation.

The reality, as always, is more nuanced. 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, logging five days to Australia's three, due to their limited experience to the pink ball and the changes in seeing conditions.

The Question of Readiness and Practice

McCullum's point about being "excessively ready" was that those five extra days were his decision – the moment he wavered in his conviction that minimal preparation is best. It meant a Test match's worth of mental energy was used up before they even took the field in the intensity of Australia's stronghold. While nets are a chance to iron out technique, they can also become a comfort zone; low-pressure activity that mainly maintains the reflexes sharp.

Fixtures are congested such that warm-up matches against state sides were not possible (and uncertain value, as shown by England having played three before the 5-0 series loss in 2013-14). More difficult to justify is the disregard of county championship cricket as a valuable experience in general, as shown by Jacob Bethell's unproductive season.

On-Field Shortcomings 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. It is not only with the batting – harrowing as some of the decision-making has been – but an bowling attack that seems leaderless. No bowler has demonstrated the persistence or discipline that the otherworldly Australian paceman and his teammates have delivered.

McCullum's free-spirit outlook was freeing during its initial year, an excellent, well diagnosed remedy to eradicate the lethargy that preceded it. 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 results taper off to 14 wins and 14 losses from their last 30 Tests.

Player Focus and Selection Dilemmas

One such player is Jamie Smith, a talent, no question, but one who is being mercilessly targeted on each side of the bat and missed two key chances with the gloves. The situation is not aided when your opposite number, Alex Carey, has just produced a virtuoso performance.

Going by the coach's comments after the match, England appear set to persist with Smith in Adelaide. The hope – as is the case – is that a return to a more familiar Test setting unleashes his best, with Perth's bouncy pitch and the unfamiliar day-night format now in the past.

The alternative is to enact the plan stumbled across during the series win in New Zealand last year by shifting the batsman down to his more natural home as a active No. 5 or 6, giving him the wicketkeeping duties, and selecting a fresh face at first drop. 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.

In the end, these changes is ideal, with Australia's better fundamentals having shattered pre-series optimism and forced the team's entire approach into the harsh glare of scrutiny.