Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a electric pink outfit worn by Robbie Williams. His show in front of 100,024 spectators was seen as a success.
It's possible you appreciate the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, conceding that some tracks are fantastic while others are terrible.
The key argument is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to produce art or even Test cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on the environment.
The weather, the hour of play, the ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the pitch.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the wicket is the foundation on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
This is not a defence of the wicket which resulted in a win and the another short match of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the surface, resulting in 36 wickets falling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as inauthentic, is mistaken.
The long game is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and ongoing. On occasion, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it spins sharply on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are even more exciting because of the patience devoted in other matches.
Problem Solving: The Real Challenge
Some factors are accepted more readily than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were hindered from showcasing their talents.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – assessing the situation and adjusting appropriately. The top two individual innings were made by recognized stars. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the devotees who have suffered 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the ground, countless fans waved their flags and chanted, producing a party atmosphere in a stronghold of sport.
There was hope as the bowlers surged, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and unconditional love when the result was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with difficult wickets. In the past, a game there featured a pitch with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. The two-day game and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – both are not the standard, yet value can be attached to them.
At this stage into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the history books.
"It's not the demise of the format at all," observed a veteran. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been experienced some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this Test, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The players protected him, bringing back the smile to his countenance.
Emerging talents performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to secure long-term stability, but something to build on.
In the end, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd left into a stunning sunset, the squad gathered on the field to start their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.
