Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the MCG rests a neon pink ensemble performed in by Robbie Williams. The performance in front of 100,024 spectators was seen as a success.
Perhaps you don't like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music in history. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some tracks are excellent while others are terrible.
The central idea is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. Preferences differ. There is no one way to craft art or even Test cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum 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 conditions.
The weather, the session, the ball – the list is endless. Above all is the wicket.
If the long game is a form of art, the wicket is the canvas on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport taken to pieces and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the pitch which resulted in a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets being taken in less than two days, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a lesser event, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is incorrect.
The long game is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and ongoing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball does all sorts for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a spinning track. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The exciting finishes are particularly captivating owing to the patience committed in other matches.
Adaptation: The Core Skill
Some factors are embraced more freely than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about adapting to challenges – reading the situation and adapting appropriately. The two highest individual contributions were made by recognized stars. One team was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Attempt to convince the supporters who have endured years of defeat that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the ground, thousands celebrated and created an atmosphere, producing a party atmosphere in a bastion of national pride.
There was optimism as the bowlers excelled, advantage when batters fought back, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has form with controversial surfaces. In the past, a Test there featured a pitch with the character of a a damp squib.
That contest was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the scale – one is not more the standard, yet value can be attached to both.
At this stage into the current series, it is the shortest games that will live longest in the history books.
"It's not the demise of Test cricket at all," commented a former player. "Fans who have been privileged to see these short time have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the heavy burden on his back.
The team protected him, restoring the smile to his persona.
New faces stepped up with vital performances. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to secure long-term stability, but a starting point to build on.
At the very least, this triumph is added to other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the squad gathered on the outfield to start their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, men. It's well deserved.
