Within a showcase on the third floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium rests a electric pink ensemble worn by Robbie Williams. The performance in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a triumph.
Perhaps you don't appreciate the performer. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a balanced view, acknowledging that some hits are excellent while others are terrible.
The key argument is that amusement can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to craft literature or even Test cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by external factors.
The elements, the session, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is art, the pitch is the foundation on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the great game broken apart and reassembled in an unusual manner.
This is not a defence of the wicket which resulted in a win and the another short match of the series.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, resulting in a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it turns square on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are particularly captivating because of the patience committed in other matches.
Adaptation: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are embraced more readily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the skilled individuals were hindered from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – reading the conditions and adapting effectively. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged stars. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Attempt to convince the fans who have endured 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the MCG, a sea of people made noise and sang their songs, producing a carnival vibe in a heartland of national pride.
There was belief as the fielding side surged, advantage when batters scored quickly, and pure joy when the win was secured.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a pitch with the excitement of a a non-event.
That fixture was a grind, with minimal action and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the scale – both are not ideal, yet value can be ascribed to them.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the history books.
"It's not the end of the format at all," observed a past champion. "The people who have been fortunate to see these two days have been given some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the captain addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The squad delivered for him, reinstating the smile to his persona.
New faces performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to ensure long-term success, but something to use as a platform.
At the very least, this triumph takes its place among other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd left into a beautiful night, the players assembled on the field to begin their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, boys. You've earned this one.
