In a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a vibrant pink outfit performed in by Robbie Williams. His show in front of a massive crowd of fans was seen as a major hit.
It's possible you like his music. You might think he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some tracks are fantastic while others are awful.
The point being is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to craft music or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by the environment.
The weather, the time of day, the ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is art, the wicket is the canvas on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The fourth Ashes Test between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport dismantled and stuck back together in abstract form.
This is not a justification of the surface which resulted in a win and the second two-day Test of the contest.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the pitch, leading to numerous dismissals tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is incorrect.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and counting. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are even more exciting due to the patience devoted in other matches.
Adjustment: The Core Skill
Some factors are accepted more freely than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the best players were prevented from showcasing their talents.
Test cricket is about problem solving – reading the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The best individual scores were made by world-class players. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: For Those Who Waited
Attempt to convince the devotees who have endured a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and created an atmosphere, fostering a festive mood in a bastion of sport.
There was optimism as the fielding side dominated, advantage when batters scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was achieved.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with difficult wickets. Previously, a game there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That contest was a marathon, with limited drama and endless boredom. The latest encounter and that slow Test are polar opposites of the spectrum – one is not more the standard, yet historical weight can be ascribed to each.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the history books.
"This isn't the end of the format at all," commented a veteran. "Fans who have been lucky enough to see these 48 hours have been treated to some fantastic sport. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The players delivered for him, restoring the smile to his face.
Emerging talents performed with key contributions. These are baby steps, hardly enough to ensure long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this MCG win joins other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the fans left into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the turf to commence their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, boys. It's well deserved.
