In a glass case on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a vibrant pink suit worn by the pop star. The performance in front of a hundred thousand fans was seen as a triumph.
You might not appreciate the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a balanced view, conceding that some tracks are fantastic while others are awful.
The key argument is that entertainment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to craft music or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.
The elements, the time of day, the red ball – the list is endless. Crucially is the pitch.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in abstract form.
This is not a endorsement of the pitch which yielded a win and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the pitch, causing 36 wickets tumbling in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is mistaken.
The format is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and counting. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it explodes.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time committed in other matches.
Adjustment: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are embraced more freely than others.
The contention in at the MCG was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were hindered from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the situation and adapting accordingly. The best individual scores were made by world-class batters. One team was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the devotees who have experienced 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the stadium, countless fans waved their flags and chanted, generating a carnival vibe in a heartland of sport.
There was optimism as the attack surged, momentum when players scored quickly, and unconditional love when the result was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with controversial surfaces. Previously, a match there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That match was a slog, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that slow Test are polar opposites of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet significance can be found in them.
Deep into the series into the current series, it is the shortest games that will live longest in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the demise of the format at all," said a past champion. "Spectators who have been fortunate to see these short time have been treated to some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The team protected him, reinstating the joy to his face.
Different players performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term futures, but a starting point to use as a platform.
In the end, this MCG win is added to other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters slipped away into a stunning sunset, the players congregated on the turf to commence their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.
