Within a display cabinet on the third floor of the MCG sits a electric pink suit performed in by the entertainer. The concert in front of a massive crowd of attendees was considered a triumph.
You might not like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a middle ground, acknowledging that some tracks are fantastic while others are terrible.
The central idea is that amusement can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no one way to create art or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon external factors.
The weather, the time of day, the red ball – the list is endless. Most important is the wicket.
If the format is art, the wicket is the canvas on which the athletes craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The fourth Ashes Test between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the established format taken to pieces and reconstructed in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the wicket which yielded a victory and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Having a thick layer on the pitch, causing 36 wickets being taken in less than two days, 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 footnoted as illegitimate, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the seamers. Sometimes, it turns square on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The exciting finishes are even more exciting owing to the patience devoted elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Certain variables are accepted more readily than others.
The argument in during the match was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the best players were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the wicket and adapting effectively. The top two individual contributions were made by world-class batters. One team was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the supporters who have experienced 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the MCG, a sea of people celebrated and chanted, fostering a party atmosphere in a stronghold of national pride.
There was optimism as the attack dominated, impetus when batters scored quickly, and pure joy when the result was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has form with pitch problems. Previously, a game there featured a strip with the character of a a non-event.
That match was a marathon, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – neither perfect, yet value can be attached to them.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will live longest in the history books.
"Far from being the death of the long game at all," observed a former player. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these short time have been given some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the preparation to this Test, the leader spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The squad protected him, bringing back the positive demeanor to his countenance.
Emerging talents performed with key contributions. These are small positives, hardly enough to ensure long-term stability, but a foundation to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this triumph takes its place among other notable performances in meaningless games.
As the fans slipped away into a stunning sunset, the squad assembled on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
