Displayed inside a glass case on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a neon pink outfit performed in by Robbie Williams. The show in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a major hit.
You might not enjoy the performer. You might think he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some songs are belting while others are poor.
The central idea is that amusement can manifest in countless ways. Preferences differ. There is no universal formula to produce art or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of Test Cricket
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on external factors.
The climate, the hour of play, the red ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the wicket.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the great game dismantled and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the wicket which resulted in a triumph and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving a thick layer on the surface, causing numerous dismissals falling in less than two days, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and still growing. On occasion, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball does all sorts for the fast men. Sometimes, it turns square on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are even more exciting owing to the time committed in other matches.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Certain variables are embraced more readily than others.
The contention in during the match was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the top batters were hindered from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the situation and adjusting effectively. The best individual contributions were made by recognized stars. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the devotees who have suffered a long drought that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and sang their songs, generating a festive mood in a heartland of national pride.
There was belief as the fielding side dominated, advantage when players fought back, and rapturous celebration when the win was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The Melbourne has previous experience with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a wicket with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a marathon, with minimal action and slow play. The two-day game and that drawn affair are polar opposites of the spectrum – neither the standard, yet significance can be ascribed to them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the demise of Test cricket at all," said a veteran. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these short time have been given some genuine drama. A unique show."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The players responded for him, restoring the positive demeanor to his countenance.
Different players stepped up with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but something to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this triumph joins other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the field to begin their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, men. This victory was hard-fought.
