In a display cabinet on the upper level of the MCG rests a electric pink ensemble performed in by Robbie Williams. The show in front of 100,024 spectators was hailed as a triumph.
It's possible you appreciate the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, acknowledging that some tracks are fantastic while others are terrible.
The central idea is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to produce literature or even the longest format.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on the environment.
The elements, the hour of play, the ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the canvas on which the players create their art.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in abstract form.
This is not a justification of the pitch which produced a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, resulting in a cascade of wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are particularly captivating due to the time devoted during quieter periods.
Adjustment: The True Test
Some factors are accepted more freely than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the top batters were hindered from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – reading the wicket and responding appropriately. The best individual innings were made by world-class players. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the fans who have endured a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the MCG, thousands waved their flags and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a bastion of national pride.
There was hope as the fielding side surged, momentum when players scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the result was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a match there featured a pitch with the excitement of a a damp squib.
That fixture was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the spectrum – one is not more the standard, yet value can be attached to each.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will remain iconic in the memory.
"Far from being the demise of the format at all," observed a former player. "The people who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been experienced some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this Test, the captain talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The squad responded for him, reinstating the joy to his countenance.
Different players stepped up with crucial roles. These are small positives, certainly not enough to ensure long-term futures, but a starting point to build on.
Ultimately, this MCG win joins other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd left into a stunning sunset, the team congregated on the turf to commence their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
