It's not semantics. It's not about optics. It's not about philosophies. It's not a revolution. It's not about buzzwords.

It's not about the bluster or the brashness either. And let's face it. It's not about Bazball.

If anything, England have lost the first two Tests of the Ashes series yet again because of the cricket they've played. Which has been on the whole rather ordinary and not up to any high standard collectively. Definitely not a standard that will challenge Australia on home soil. Even while the home team have missed a few crucial players for different reasons.

The English batters have really not come to grips with how to survive or score in these conditions, save a couple of exceptions. The English bowlers have really not come to grips with how to defend or to attack consistently on these pitches, without any exceptions. And their catching in Brisbane was woeful.

Yes, there have been some untoward dismissals. Yes, there have been some pretty unimaginative and ungainly bowling spells. And yes, a lot of that has unfortunately transpired at stages of the Test where the pendulum has been on the cusp of swinging. With England invariably handing the momentum back to Australia on a platter.

If this was any other team, we'd likely be talking about how out of their depth they look to be able to compete against the Australians. There'd be criticism of course but more around the visiting team's player lack of firepower or how they're skillsets aren't up to scratch for them to taste any success here.

This English batting line-up isn't the first and won't be the last to falter in Australian conditions against seasoned Australian bowlers. They're not the first to succumb to the temptation of driving on the up outside off-stump. They're not the first team to struggle to keep Australia under the cosh when they're in front. They're not the first team whose bowlers have got carried away and completely lost the plot on a pitch with a bit of extra bounce on offer.

But it's just that with this English Test team, it always becomes about them. And not always by their choice either. It's mainly because of all the pomp and external noise that accompanies their style of play. That often even their erroneous skill execution or pure lack of game sense get attributed to their apparent need to be aggressive or to "run towards the danger".

The fact remains that all their batting collapses in the first two Tests came via a lot of batter errors, mainly to do with questionable techniques for these conditions. Whether it's trying to force the ball square of the wicket or not being able to pick the length up quickly enough. Take Ben Duckett's dismissal in the second innings here at the Gabba.

It is dramatically different to some of the audacious shots that the English batters were getting out to during the 2023 Ashes on their home soil. Not to forget the frequency with which they were attempting them. This feels like a different England team already on that front. Back when their batters were genuinely taking aggressive batting to the extreme. When they were truly throwing the batting textbook in the bin and inventing their own syllabus on taking down opposition bowling attacks.

What we've seen so far from them though is simply a collective lack of skill to really get the best out of batting on Australian surfaces. Which does involve a bit of humility where you let the bowlers do what they do and earn the right to be able to force the issue.

Like Stokes and Will Jacks did quite splendidly on Sunday afternoon.

And what their bowlers haven't been able to do so far, partly because they are not conditioned to do so and partly because they weren't brought here to play those roles, is to bowl dry overs like Michael Neser did so effectively on the fourth afternoon. The reason why England's stoic defence never managed to translate into anything more. And also the reason why Neser was able to break the game open later in the evening.

But again, the fact that England have simply not been able to build that kind of pressure across the last two innings for Australia has nothing to do with Bazball but their lack of skills or talent to be able to do that.

All reasons why unlike in 2023, the 0-2 deficit this time around seems a lot more dire for England than it did two and a half years ago. Like now, Stokes and his team continued to talk about hoping to come back into the series and hoping to get the job done even back then. That was when they were talking about moral victories as well. But then it still seemed like a very probable outcome, considering how close the two Tests had been at Edgbaston and at Lord's. And also, the genuine swagger with which that English team was going about their work, in the heyday of Bazball.

It was a much less convincing Stokes who spoke about his team's chances of clawing their way back in a series which was built up to define the legacy of this English Test team. Especially when he started speaking about how there was no room for "weak men" in his dressing-room, and about needing to have some strong conversations within the camp, while trying to keep the mood upbeat as they head for a vacation before reassembling in Adelaide for the third Test.

His best line was when he spoke about how his team were good at applying pressure but not reacting to it when it's applied on them. The fact is that they just haven't been able to apply any pressure for an extended period of time on the Aussies for it to even be a talking point.

As has been well-documented the Jonny Bairstow stumping incident at Lord's ended up galvanising the English team when they were down two-nil and desperate for a comeback. To the extent some did wonder if Jofra Archer's verbals against Steve Smith, when Stokes went after Jake Weatherald, was an attempt by them to get under the Australians' skin or to even incite an contrived incident to find something to galvanise the team this time around. Either way it didn't work.

And it won't matter what they do next either. It's not about whether they train too little or if they train too much. For the record, Brendon McCullum didn't look overly pleased this morning when he walked into the venue and saw Jamie Smith having a hit against the red ball with assistant coach Marcus Trescothick a day after his batting duties had ended in the second Test. It won't matter what narrative the English camp come up with to resurrect their sinking Ashes campaign. And it won't matter what they do or don't in Noosa.

For, their only way back in the series is finding a way to genuinely combat the conditions in Australia and an ever-improving Australian team, which will welcome back some world-class players at the Adelaide Oval. And on the basis of what we've seen, they don't possess the skills collectively to be able to do so. The writing for this campaign derailing completely is on the wall.