Displayed inside a display cabinet on the upper level of the MCG sits a electric pink suit performed in by the pop star. His show in front of a hundred thousand spectators was hailed as a triumph.
Perhaps you don't like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a balanced view, admitting 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 not a single method to create art or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the time of day, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the blank slate on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport broken apart and reassembled in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a defence of the pitch which yielded a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Having a thick layer on the surface, causing 36 wickets falling in less than two days, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is incorrect.
The format is a diverse canvas, a long history and still growing. At times, like in Melbourne, the ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it bounces unevenly.
The close matches are all the more thrilling owing to the patience made in other matches.
Adjustment: The True Test
Some factors are embraced more easily than others.
The argument in during the match was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and adapting accordingly. The best individual contributions were made by acknowledged batters. One team made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the fans who have suffered 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the stadium, countless fans made noise and created an atmosphere, producing a festive mood in a stronghold of sport.
There was belief as the bowlers surged, momentum when players responded, and rapturous celebration when the win was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has form with pitch problems. Previously, a match there featured a pitch with the character of a a non-event.
That match was a grind, with limited drama and interminable tedium. This recent match and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the range – neither perfect, yet significance can be found in them.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," observed a past champion. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these 48 hours have been given some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this match, the leader spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The players protected him, reinstating the smile to his persona.
New faces delivered with vital performances. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to secure long-term success, but a foundation to build on.
Ultimately, this triumph joins other memorable performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd slipped away into a beautiful night, the players assembled on the turf to begin their own festivities.
Savour the moment, boys. It's well deserved.
