Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a neon pink ensemble performed in by Robbie Williams. His performance in front of a hundred thousand spectators was considered a major hit.
Perhaps you don't appreciate Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, admitting that some songs are fantastic while others are terrible.
The key argument is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to create art or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on conditions.
The weather, the hour of play, the red ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the long game is a form of art, the pitch is the canvas on which the cricketers create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport taken to pieces and reconstructed in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a defence of the wicket which yielded a triumph and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, causing 36 wickets falling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Rich Tapestry: 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.
The format is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and ongoing. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball does all sorts for the seamers. In contrast, it grips and turns 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 even more exciting owing to the time committed in other matches.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Certain variables are embraced more freely than others.
The debate in during the match was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the best players were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about adapting to challenges – reading the situation and responding effectively. The top two individual innings were made by acknowledged batters. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the devotees who have endured years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the ground, thousands celebrated and chanted, producing a festive mood in a bastion of national pride.
There was optimism as the fielding side excelled, impetus when batters scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the result was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a game there featured a pitch with all the life of a a non-event.
That match was a marathon, with few wickets and endless boredom. This recent match and that previous match are polar opposites of the spectrum – both are not the standard, yet significance can be attached to both.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the end of the format at all," commented a past champion. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been given some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The team protected him, bringing back the positive demeanor to his persona.
Emerging talents stepped up with key contributions. These are small positives, not nearly enough to secure long-term stability, but something to use as a platform.
In the end, this MCG win takes its place among other memorable performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd left into a beautiful night, the squad congregated on the turf to begin their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.
