Within a showcase on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a electric pink outfit performed in by the pop star. His show in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a triumph.
You might not like Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, conceding that some songs are excellent while others are poor.
The key argument is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to create literature or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon external factors.
The climate, the session, the red ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the wicket.
If the long game is art, the pitch is the foundation on which the players paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport broken apart and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the surface which yielded a triumph and the another short match of the contest.
Leaving excessive grass on the wicket, leading to a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and counting. At times, as witnessed recently, the ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are even more exciting owing to the patience committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Certain variables are accepted more easily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the balance was tipped too far towards the attack. That the skilled individuals were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about finding solutions – assessing the situation and adapting accordingly. The best individual scores were made by recognized stars. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have experienced 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the stadium, thousands made noise and chanted, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the attack dominated, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and unconditional love when the win was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. In the past, a match there featured a pitch with the character of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That contest was a marathon, with few wickets and slow play. This recent match and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the range – neither perfect, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the memory.
"It's not the death of Test cricket at all," said a past champion. "Fans who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some genuine drama. A unique show."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this match, the captain spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his back.
The squad responded for him, reinstating the smile to his face.
Emerging talents performed with vital performances. These are baby steps, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a starting point to build on.
In the end, this MCG win is added to other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team assembled on the outfield to commence their own festivities.
Savour the moment, boys. It's well deserved.
