Displayed inside a glass case on the third floor of the MCG sits a vibrant pink outfit worn by Robbie Williams. His show in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a major hit.
It's possible you appreciate Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, conceding that some songs are belting while others are terrible.
The central idea is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to produce art or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on external factors.
The weather, the hour of play, the red ball – the list is endless. Above all is the pitch.
If the format is art, the wicket is the blank slate on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the great game taken to pieces and reassembled in abstract form.
This is not a defence of the surface which produced a triumph and the another short match of the contest.
Leaving a thick layer on the wicket, resulting in a cascade of wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, a long history and still growing. On occasion, as seen at the MCG, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it turns square on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling owing to the patience committed elsewhere.
Adjustment: The True Test
Certain variables are tolerated more freely than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were unable from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and responding appropriately. The top two individual contributions were made by recognized stars. One team was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the devotees who have experienced a long drought that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the MCG, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a party atmosphere in a bastion of national pride.
There was hope as the bowlers excelled, advantage when batters responded, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has previous experience with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a pitch with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That fixture was a marathon, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that slow Test are extreme ends of the spectrum – one is not more perfect, yet significance can be attached to both.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the shortest games that will live longest in the memory.
"It's not the end of the format at all," observed a past champion. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these 48 hours have been given some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the smile to his persona.
Emerging talents delivered with vital performances. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory joins other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans departed into a beautiful night, the players gathered on the outfield to start their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, boys. You've earned this one.
