Within a showcase on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a vibrant pink outfit worn by the entertainer. The performance in front of a hundred thousand spectators was considered a major hit.
Perhaps you don't enjoy Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. You might take a reasonable stance, acknowledging that some tracks are excellent while others are poor.
The key argument is that amusement can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to produce music or even Test cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by the environment.
The weather, the time of day, the ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the wicket.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the foundation on which the athletes craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport dismantled and reconstructed in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the wicket which produced a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Leaving a thick layer on the pitch, resulting in numerous dismissals tumbling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is incorrect.
The long game is a diverse canvas, a long history and counting. At times, like in Melbourne, the ball does all sorts for the seamers. Other times, it turns square on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling due to the time made elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Some factors are tolerated more easily than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the best players were prevented from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The top two individual contributions were made by acknowledged batters. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the supporters who have suffered 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the ground, countless fans made noise and created an atmosphere, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was hope as the attack excelled, momentum when batters responded, and unconditional love when the win was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. Previously, a match there featured a wicket with the character of a a damp squib.
That contest was a marathon, with few wickets and slow play. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the range – neither ideal, yet significance can be ascribed to them.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the history books.
"This isn't the end of the format at all," observed a former player. "Fans who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been experienced some fantastic sport. Different entertainment."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The players delivered for him, reinstating the smile to his face.
Different players delivered with key contributions. These are small positives, not nearly enough to secure long-term futures, but a foundation to build on.
In the end, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other memorable performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the squad assembled on the turf to start their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, lads. You've earned this one.
