Displayed inside a glass case on the elevated floor of the MCG rests a neon pink suit performed in by the entertainer. His concert in front of a massive crowd of attendees was seen as a success.
Perhaps you don't enjoy Robbie Williams. You might think he is the ultimate present to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a balanced view, acknowledging that some hits are fantastic while others are awful.
The point being is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is not a single method to create art or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by the environment.
The weather, the time of day, the red ball – the variables are numerous. Above all is the playing surface.
If the long game is art, the wicket is the canvas on which the athletes create their art.
An Abstract Contest: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a defence of the wicket which produced a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the wicket, causing numerous dismissals being taken in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a varied portfolio, a long history and ongoing. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball does all sorts for the fast men. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling because of the patience devoted in other matches.
Adjustment: The True Test
Specific conditions are accepted more readily than others.
The contention in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the top batters were unable from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about finding solutions – reading the situation and adjusting effectively. The best individual innings were made by world-class batters. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Try telling the devotees who have experienced 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the stadium, a sea of people celebrated and chanted, fostering a festive mood in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was optimism as the fielding side excelled, momentum when players responded, and pure joy when the win was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with difficult wickets. In the past, a Test there featured a pitch with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a slog, with few wickets and interminable tedium. This recent match and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the scale – one is not more the standard, yet historical weight can be found in both.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the end of the long game at all," said a past champion. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these two days have been treated to some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this match, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the positive demeanor to his persona.
New faces stepped up with vital performances. These are baby steps, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but something to use as a platform.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory is added to other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the players gathered on the field to commence their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, lads. It's well deserved.
