Within a glass case on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a neon pink ensemble donned by Robbie Williams. His performance in front of 100,024 spectators was hailed as a success.
It's possible you enjoy the performer. You might think he is the finest offering to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a balanced view, acknowledging that some tracks are fantastic while others are poor.
The central idea is that enjoyment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create art or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Crucially is the wicket.
If the format is art, the strip is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport taken to pieces and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the second two-day Test of the contest.
Having a thick layer on the surface, causing 36 wickets tumbling in less than two days, is not an even battle between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball moves excessively for the fast men. In contrast, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling owing to the patience made in other matches.
Problem Solving: The Real Challenge
Certain variables are tolerated more freely than others.
The contention in during the match was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the top batters were unable from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and responding appropriately. The top two individual contributions were made by acknowledged stars. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the supporters who have suffered years of defeat that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the ground, countless fans waved their flags and chanted, generating a carnival vibe in a stronghold of Australian cricket.
There was optimism as the bowlers dominated, advantage when batters scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the win was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with pitch problems. In the past, a game there featured a wicket with the excitement of a a damp squib.
That fixture was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are polar opposites of the scale – both are not the standard, yet significance can be attached to them.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the death of the format at all," observed a former player. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these 48 hours have been experienced some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this match, the captain spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The squad responded for him, bringing back the smile to his face.
Different players performed with key contributions. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to ensure long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
In the end, this triumph joins other notable performances in meaningless games.
As the fans left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the turf to start their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, boys. You've earned this one.
