Displayed inside a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a neon pink ensemble performed in by the entertainer. His performance in front of a hundred thousand attendees was seen as a success.
Perhaps you don't appreciate his music. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music in history. You might take a middle ground, admitting that some hits are belting while others are terrible.
The point being is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no one way to craft literature or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon the environment.
The climate, the session, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Most important is the pitch.
If Test cricket is art, the strip is the canvas on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the great game taken to pieces and stuck back together in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the surface which yielded a victory and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Having excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets being taken in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and counting. At times, like in Melbourne, the ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling due to the investment committed during quieter periods.
Adaptation: The True Test
Some factors are accepted more readily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the best players were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about adapting to challenges – assessing the wicket and responding effectively. The top two individual contributions were made by acknowledged players. One team made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have suffered years of defeat that this wasn't compelling.
Among the crowd of the stadium, thousands celebrated and chanted, producing a festive mood in a heartland of sport.
There was belief as the fielding side surged, momentum when batters responded, and rapturous celebration when the result was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has form with difficult wickets. In the past, a match there featured a pitch with all the life of a a damp squib.
That fixture was a grind, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet historical weight can be attached to each.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the memory.
"This isn't the demise of the format at all," observed a former player. "The people who have been fortunate to see these short time have been experienced some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope
In the preparation to this Test, the captain addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the positive demeanor to his persona.
Emerging talents performed with crucial roles. These are baby steps, certainly not enough to secure long-term success, but a starting point to build on.
At the very least, this triumph takes its place among other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players gathered on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.
