Within a glass case on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a electric pink suit performed in by Robbie Williams. His concert in front of 100,024 attendees was seen as a major hit.
Perhaps you don't like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a balanced view, admitting that some tracks are excellent while others are terrible.
The central idea is that amusement can take many forms. You like what you like. There is not a single method to create literature or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on external factors.
The climate, the hour of play, the red ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is art, the wicket is the foundation on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the established format taken to pieces and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the surface which produced a win and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, causing numerous dismissals tumbling in less than a brief period, is not a balanced duel between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, 2,615 parts and ongoing. On occasion, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are particularly captivating because of the time committed elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Certain variables are tolerated more freely than others.
The contention in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the skilled individuals were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the conditions and responding effectively. The two highest individual scores were made by recognized stars. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the supporters who have experienced 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the MCG, a sea of people celebrated and chanted, fostering a party atmosphere in a stronghold of sport.
There was optimism as the attack excelled, advantage when players responded, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Contrasting Examples: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. Previously, a game there featured a pitch with all the life of a a damp squib.
That contest was a marathon, with minimal action and slow play. The two-day game and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – both are not the standard, yet historical weight can be attached to both.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the history books.
"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," said a former player. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been experienced some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the preparation to this match, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the joy to his face.
New faces performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
At the very least, this triumph takes its place among other memorable performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team assembled on the turf to start their own festivities.
Enjoy the drink, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
