Displayed inside a showcase on the upper level of the iconic Melbourne stadium sits a neon pink outfit performed in by the entertainer. His concert in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a triumph.
You might not appreciate Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. You might take a balanced view, admitting that some songs are belting while others are terrible.
The central idea is that amusement can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is no one way to produce literature or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon conditions.
The elements, the hour of play, the ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the pitch is the blank slate on which the players create their art.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the surface which resulted in a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the series.
Allowing excessive grass on the pitch, resulting in numerous dismissals being taken in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is mistaken.
The long game is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball behaves unpredictably for the seamers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the patience devoted during quieter periods.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Some factors are embraced more freely than others.
The contention in during the match was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the best players were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and responding effectively. The top two individual innings were made by recognized players. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the fans who have suffered years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the stadium, thousands celebrated and chanted, producing a party atmosphere in a bastion of national pride.
There was belief as the bowlers surged, advantage when batters responded, and pure joy when the win was secured.
Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches
The venue has a history with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a match there featured a pitch with all the life of a a non-event.
That contest was a marathon, with limited drama and slow play. This recent match and that slow Test are polar opposites of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet significance can be found in each.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the quick finishes that will live longest in the history books.
"This isn't the death of Test cricket at all," commented a former player. "Fans who have been privileged to see these short time have been treated to some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this Test, the captain talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The team responded for him, reinstating the joy to his face.
New faces performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but something to build on.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players gathered on the field to commence their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, men. This victory was hard-fought.
