In a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the MCG sits a neon pink suit performed in by the pop star. His concert in front of a hundred thousand fans was considered a success.
You might not appreciate Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a middle ground, conceding that some songs are fantastic while others are terrible.
The point being is that enjoyment can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is no one way to produce literature or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by conditions.
The weather, the session, the ball – the factors are countless. Crucially is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is art, the strip is the foundation on which the athletes craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the great game taken to pieces and reassembled in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the wicket which yielded a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the wicket, resulting in numerous dismissals falling in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The format is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it turns square on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time made in other matches.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Some factors are accepted more readily than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were unable from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about adapting to challenges – reading the conditions and adjusting effectively. The two highest individual innings were made by world-class players. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Try telling the devotees who have suffered a long drought that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and created an atmosphere, fostering a carnival vibe in a stronghold of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the attack excelled, momentum when players scored quickly, and unconditional love when the win was achieved.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a match there featured a pitch with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That fixture was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. The two-day game and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the scale – both are not ideal, yet value can be ascribed to them.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"Far from being the end of Test cricket at all," said a past champion. "The people who have been fortunate to see these 48 hours have been treated to some real entertainment. A unique show."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The squad delivered for him, restoring the joy to his persona.
New faces delivered with key contributions. These are small positives, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but a foundation to use as a platform.
In the end, this triumph joins other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the squad congregated on the field to begin their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, men. This victory was hard-fought.
