Displayed inside a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a electric pink suit performed in by the pop star. His performance in front of a hundred thousand attendees was considered a success.
Perhaps you don't enjoy the performer. You might think he is the ultimate present to music known to man. You might take a middle ground, admitting that some hits are excellent while others are poor.
The key argument is that entertainment can take many forms. Preferences differ. There is no one way to create literature or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on external factors.
The elements, the session, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the foundation on which the athletes create their art.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the established format broken apart and reassembled in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the surface which produced a victory and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, resulting in numerous dismissals being taken in less than two days, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Other times, it spins sharply on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The close matches are even more exciting because of the patience made elsewhere.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Certain variables are accepted more easily than others.
The debate in Melbourne was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the top batters were unable from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the situation and adjusting effectively. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged stars. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Attempt to convince the supporters who have suffered 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the ground, thousands waved their flags and sang their songs, fostering a carnival vibe in a bastion of national pride.
There was hope as the attack surged, advantage when batters responded, and pure joy when the victory was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has form with pitch problems. In the past, a match there featured a pitch with all the life of a a non-event.
That contest was a grind, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the range – neither the standard, yet historical weight can be ascribed to them.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the shortest games that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the death of the long game at all," commented a past champion. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these 48 hours have been treated to some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the leader talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The squad protected him, reinstating the smile to his face.
New faces delivered with vital performances. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the outfield to commence their own festivities.
Savour the moment, lads. It's well deserved.
