Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium sits a vibrant pink suit worn by the pop star. The concert in front of a massive crowd of spectators was considered a success.
Perhaps you don't enjoy Robbie Williams. You might think he is the ultimate present to music in history. You might take a middle ground, acknowledging that some songs are belting while others are awful.
The key argument is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create music or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on the environment.
The elements, the session, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Crucially is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is a form of art, the strip is the blank slate on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the great game taken to pieces and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the pitch which produced a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the surface, resulting in a cascade of wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is incorrect.
The format is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and counting. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling due to the patience devoted elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are embraced more easily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the fielding side. That the best players were hindered from playing their natural game.
The format is about adapting to challenges – assessing the conditions and adapting accordingly. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged batters. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have experienced a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the stadium, a sea of people waved their flags and chanted, producing a party atmosphere in a heartland of sport.
There was hope as the fielding side surged, advantage when batters fought back, and unconditional love when the win was confirmed.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has form with controversial surfaces. Previously, a game there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with few wickets and slow play. This recent match and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the scale – both are not the standard, yet significance can be ascribed to them.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the shortest games that will live longest in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the death of the long game at all," observed a past champion. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these 48 hours have been experienced some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this Test, the captain talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The players responded for him, reinstating the smile to his face.
New faces performed with key contributions. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory is added to other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters left into a stunning sunset, the team congregated on the turf to begin their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
