Displayed inside a glass case on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a neon pink ensemble performed in by the pop star. The show in front of a hundred thousand spectators was seen as a success.
Perhaps you don't appreciate his music. You might think he is the greatest gift to music known to man. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some songs are belting while others are terrible.
The point being is that entertainment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is no one way to craft art or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on external factors.
The elements, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Above all is the wicket.
If the format is art, the strip is the blank slate on which the players paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the old rivals was Test cricket cubism, the established format dismantled and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the wicket which yielded a victory and the another short match of the series.
Allowing excessive grass on the pitch, leading to a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as illegitimate, is incorrect.
The format is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it grips and turns on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The close matches are all the more thrilling because of the patience committed elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Specific conditions are accepted more readily than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was weighted unfairly towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were unable from playing their natural game.
The format is about finding solutions – assessing the wicket and adapting effectively. The top two individual contributions were made by acknowledged players. One team made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Try telling the supporters who have suffered 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the MCG, countless fans waved their flags and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a stronghold of Australian cricket.
There was optimism as the bowlers dominated, momentum when the top order scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the victory was secured.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with pitch problems. Previously, a game there featured a strip with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a marathon, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the range – both are not perfect, yet value can be attached to both.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the end of the long game at all," observed a veteran. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these 48 hours have been given some real entertainment. A unique show."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The team protected him, restoring the smile to his countenance.
New faces performed with crucial roles. These are small positives, hardly enough to ensure long-term futures, but a foundation to use as a platform.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd departed into a beautiful night, the squad gathered on the field to commence their own festivities.
Savour the moment, boys. It's well deserved.
