Displayed inside a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the MCG rests a vibrant pink outfit donned by the entertainer. His show in front of a massive crowd of attendees was seen as a major hit.
You might not like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some songs are excellent while others are terrible.
The point being is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to create literature or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Test Format
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on the environment.
The weather, the session, the red ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the wicket.
If the long game is art, the strip is the blank slate on which the athletes craft their legacy.
An Abstract Contest: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport dismantled and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the pitch which resulted in a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the wicket, causing numerous dismissals being taken in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a lesser event, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The format is a rich tapestry, a long history and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are particularly captivating owing to the time made elsewhere.
Adaptation: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are tolerated more freely than others.
The contention in Melbourne was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the top batters were unable from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and adapting appropriately. The best individual scores were made by acknowledged stars. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have endured 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In a corner of the stadium, countless fans celebrated and sang their songs, generating a carnival vibe in a stronghold of sport.
There was belief as the bowlers surged, impetus when players scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has form with difficult wickets. In the past, a game there featured a strip with the character of a a damp squib.
That match was a slog, with few wickets and slow play. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are polar opposites of the scale – both are not perfect, yet significance can be ascribed to each.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the memory.
"Far from being the end of the format at all," said a former player. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been treated to some real entertainment. A unique show."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this Test, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The squad delivered for him, bringing back the joy to his face.
New faces stepped up with crucial roles. These are small positives, certainly not enough to ensure long-term futures, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory joins other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the players congregated on the field to start their own celebrations.
Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.
