Displayed inside a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a electric pink ensemble performed in by Robbie Williams. His show in front of a hundred thousand fans was seen as a triumph.
It's possible you appreciate the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the finest offering to music in history. Or you could adopt a balanced view, conceding that some songs are fantastic while others are terrible.
The point being is that amusement can take many forms. Preferences differ. There is no one way to create art or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the session, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the wicket.
If the long game is a form of art, the wicket is the foundation on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport broken apart and reconstructed in abstract form.
This is not a defence of the pitch which yielded a win and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Having a thick layer on the surface, causing 36 wickets falling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and still growing. At times, as witnessed recently, the ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. In contrast, it grips and turns on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are particularly captivating due to the time made in other matches.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are accepted more easily than others.
The argument in during the match was that the contest was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the conditions and responding appropriately. The best individual innings were made by recognized players. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Supporters' View
Attempt to convince the fans who have endured a long drought that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the stadium, countless fans made noise and chanted, producing a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was belief as the fielding side dominated, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and pure joy when the result was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with difficult wickets. Previously, a match there featured a wicket with all the life of a a damp squib.
That match was a grind, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the spectrum – one is not more ideal, yet significance can be attached to each.
Deep into the series into the ongoing battle, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the history books.
"It's not the demise of the format at all," observed a former player. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been given some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the captain spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The players responded for him, reinstating the joy to his face.
Emerging talents stepped up with key contributions. These are small positives, hardly enough to guarantee long-term success, but a foundation to use as a platform.
At the very least, this MCG win is added to other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, lads. You've earned this one.
