Displayed inside a glass case on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a electric pink outfit donned by the entertainer. The performance in front of 100,024 attendees was considered a triumph.
You might not enjoy Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music known to man. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are fantastic while others are awful.
The central idea is that amusement can be delivered diversely. Preferences differ. There is no universal formula to produce literature or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of Test Cricket
The traditional format boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon conditions.
The climate, the time of day, the ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the pitch.
If the long game is art, the strip is the canvas on which the players create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport taken to pieces and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the surface which produced a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the wicket, causing a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is mistaken.
The long game is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and ongoing. At times, as witnessed recently, the ball moves excessively for the fast men. Other times, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling because of the investment committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Certain variables are embraced more freely than others.
The argument in Melbourne 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 adapting to challenges – reading the conditions and adjusting effectively. The two highest individual contributions were made by acknowledged players. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the supporters who have endured 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and chanted, generating a party atmosphere in a heartland of national pride.
There was hope as the fielding side dominated, momentum when the top order responded, and rapturous celebration when the result was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a match there featured a wicket with the excitement of a a damp squib.
That match was a marathon, with limited drama and endless boredom. The two-day game and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet value can be found in them.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the demise of the long game at all," commented a former player. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been experienced some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope
In the build-up to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The squad protected him, reinstating the smile to his countenance.
New faces performed with vital performances. These are small positives, hardly enough to secure long-term success, but a foundation to develop from.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory joins other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the crowd departed into a stunning sunset, the team congregated on the outfield to start their own festivities.
Savour the moment, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
