Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a vibrant pink outfit worn by Robbie Williams. The concert in front of a massive crowd of spectators was seen as a success.
It's possible you appreciate the performer. You might think he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are excellent while others are terrible.
The key argument is that enjoyment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. It is hard to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by conditions.
The climate, the time of day, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Most important is the wicket.
If the long game is a form of art, the wicket is the canvas on which the athletes create their art.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport taken to pieces and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the pitch which yielded a victory and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, causing 36 wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Nature 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, over two thousand matches and counting. At times, as seen at the MCG, the 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 due to the time made in other matches.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are accepted more easily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the top batters were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the situation and adjusting effectively. The top two individual innings were made by acknowledged players. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Supporters' View
Try telling the supporters who have endured a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and created an atmosphere, generating a party atmosphere in a bastion of national pride.
There was belief as the attack excelled, momentum when players scored quickly, and unconditional love when the result was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has form with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a pitch with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a slog, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that slow Test are polar opposites of the spectrum – neither the standard, yet significance can be ascribed to both.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"Far from being the death of Test cricket at all," commented a past champion. "The people who have been fortunate to see these two days have been given some fantastic sport. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The squad delivered for him, bringing back the joy to his face.
Different players performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to guarantee long-term success, but a foundation to build on.
In the end, this triumph joins other memorable performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team assembled on the turf to commence their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, lads. You've earned this one.
