Displayed inside a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the MCG sits a vibrant pink suit worn by the entertainer. The concert in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a triumph.
Perhaps you don't like the performer. You might think he is the ultimate present to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, admitting that some tracks are belting while others are terrible.
The central idea is that amusement can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create literature or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
The five-day game 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 red ball – the list is endless. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the format is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the foundation on which the players create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the established format dismantled and reconstructed in an unusual manner.
This is not a justification of the surface which yielded a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Having a thick layer on the wicket, resulting in 36 wickets tumbling in less than two days, is not an even battle between offense and defense.
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 not a proper Test, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Other times, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are even more exciting owing to the time committed elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Specific conditions are accepted more easily than others.
The contention in Melbourne was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the fielding side. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The best individual innings were made by acknowledged players. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the fans who have endured years of defeat that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the MCG, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a party atmosphere in a heartland of Australian cricket.
There was belief as the fielding side surged, momentum when the top order scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was secured.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has form with pitch problems. In the past, a match there featured a strip with the excitement of a a non-event.
That contest was a marathon, with limited drama and endless boredom. The two-day game and that previous match are polar opposites of the scale – neither the standard, yet significance can be attached to them.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the quick finishes that will live longest in the memory.
"Far from being the end of the long game at all," commented a former player. "The people who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been treated to some genuine drama. A unique show."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this Test, the leader spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The players delivered for him, restoring the joy to his persona.
New faces stepped up with crucial roles. These are small positives, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term success, but something to develop from.
In the end, this Melbourne victory joins other memorable performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team assembled on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
