Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the MCG is housed a neon pink outfit performed in by Robbie Williams. His performance in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a triumph.
It's possible you appreciate Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a balanced view, acknowledging that some songs are belting while others are terrible.
The key argument is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. Preferences differ. There is not a single method to create art or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by external factors.
The weather, the session, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the blank slate on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the great game dismantled and reconstructed in a bizarre shape.
This is not a defence of the pitch which yielded a victory and the another short match of the contest.
Having 10mm of grass on the surface, causing 36 wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and counting. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are particularly captivating because of the patience devoted during quieter periods.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Specific conditions are accepted more readily than others.
The contention in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about problem solving – assessing the wicket and adapting accordingly. The best individual innings were made by acknowledged batters. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Pure Elation: The Supporters' View
Attempt to convince the devotees who have suffered years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the stadium, countless fans celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a party atmosphere in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the bowlers excelled, impetus when players responded, and pure joy when the win was confirmed.
Contrasting Examples: The Variety of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a match there featured a strip with the character of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that previous match are polar opposites of the range – one is not more perfect, yet significance can be found in each.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the end of the format at all," said a veteran. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these two days have been given some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this match, the leader spoke like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The players protected him, restoring the smile to his countenance.
New faces delivered with key contributions. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term success, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players assembled on the turf to start their own festivities.
Enjoy the drink, boys. It's well deserved.
