Within a display cabinet on the third floor of the MCG rests a electric pink suit performed in by the entertainer. The concert in front of a massive crowd of spectators was considered a triumph.
It's possible you enjoy Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are fantastic while others are awful.
The point being is that amusement can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to create music or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by conditions.
The weather, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the pitch is the canvas on which the players craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the great game dismantled and reassembled in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a defence of the surface which yielded a win and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Allowing a thick layer on the surface, causing 36 wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, a long history and still growing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are even more exciting because of the patience committed in other matches.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Some factors are embraced more readily than others.
The contention in at the MCG was that the balance was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the top batters were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the conditions and adjusting accordingly. The best individual scores were made by acknowledged players. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the devotees who have suffered 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and sang their songs, generating a carnival vibe in a bastion of national pride.
There was belief as the bowlers dominated, impetus when the top order responded, and rapturous celebration when the victory was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. In the past, a Test there featured a strip with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That contest was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that slow Test are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet significance can be found in them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will remain iconic in the memory.
"It's not the end of the format at all," said a former player. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these 48 hours have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The squad protected him, reinstating the smile to his face.
Emerging talents delivered with vital performances. These are small positives, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term stability, but something to develop from.
In the end, this triumph takes its place among other notable performances in meaningless games.
As the fans left into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the field to start their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, boys. You've earned this one.
