Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a electric pink suit worn by Robbie Williams. The performance in front of a hundred thousand spectators was considered a success.
Perhaps you don't like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music known to man. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are belting while others are poor.
The central idea is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is not a single method to produce art or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon external factors.
The weather, the time of day, the ball – the list is endless. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the pitch is the blank slate on which the players craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in abstract form.
This is not a defence of the pitch which resulted in a win and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Having excessive grass on the surface, causing numerous dismissals falling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is mistaken.
The long game is a rich tapestry, a long history and counting. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball moves excessively for the seamers. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling because of the time made elsewhere.
Adjustment: The True Test
Specific conditions are accepted more freely than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the skilled individuals were prevented from playing their natural game.
The format is about finding solutions – reading the wicket and adjusting effectively. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged players. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Try telling the devotees who have experienced 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the MCG, a sea of people waved their flags and created an atmosphere, fostering a festive mood in a heartland of national pride.
There was belief as the bowlers surged, advantage when batters responded, and unconditional love when the win was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with controversial surfaces. In the past, a match there featured a strip with the excitement of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with minimal action and endless boredom. This recent match and that previous match are polar opposites of the scale – neither ideal, yet value can be attached to both.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the death of the long game at all," said a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been treated to some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The players protected him, restoring the positive demeanor to his countenance.
New faces stepped up with vital performances. These are small positives, certainly not enough to secure long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
In the end, this Melbourne victory is added to other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans left into a stunning sunset, the players gathered on the turf to commence their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
