In a showcase on the upper level of the MCG is housed a electric pink ensemble worn by the pop star. His show in front of a hundred thousand fans was considered a major hit.
It's possible you appreciate the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a middle ground, acknowledging that some hits are excellent while others are poor.
The central idea is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. Tastes vary. There is no one way to craft art or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Test Format
The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.
The elements, the time of day, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the playing surface.
If the long game is art, the wicket is the blank slate on which the players create their art.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the established format taken to pieces and reconstructed in an unusual manner.
This is not a defence of the surface which resulted in a win and the second two-day Test of the series.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the pitch, resulting in a cascade of wickets falling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it turns square on a dry surface. At other venues, 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
Specific conditions are tolerated more freely than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the best players were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about problem solving – assessing the situation and adjusting appropriately. The two highest individual contributions were made by world-class players. One team was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the devotees who have endured 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In a corner of the stadium, countless fans made noise and created an atmosphere, generating a festive mood in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the fielding side excelled, advantage when batters scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. Previously, a match there featured a wicket with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That fixture was a slog, with minimal action and endless boredom. This recent match and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – neither the standard, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the death of Test cricket at all," commented a former player. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these short time have been given some genuine drama. A unique show."
Small Victories: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The squad responded for him, reinstating the joy to his countenance.
Emerging talents performed with crucial roles. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to ensure long-term futures, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this triumph is added to other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters slipped away into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the field to commence their own festivities.
Enjoy the drink, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
