In a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a electric pink ensemble worn by the pop star. The show in front of a hundred thousand attendees was considered a success.
Perhaps you don't appreciate his music. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music known to man. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some hits are excellent while others are awful.
The key argument is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to produce art or even the longest format.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the contest is so dependent on the environment.
The weather, the session, the ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the wicket.
If Test cricket is a form of art, the wicket is the blank slate on which the cricketers create their art.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport taken to pieces and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the surface which resulted in a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, causing a cascade of wickets being taken in less than two days, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as illegitimate, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, 2,615 parts and ongoing. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are particularly captivating because of the investment made elsewhere.
Adjustment: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are embraced more freely than others.
The debate in during the match was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about adapting to challenges – assessing the conditions and adjusting accordingly. The best individual contributions were made by acknowledged players. One team made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the fans who have experienced years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and chanted, fostering a carnival vibe in a bastion of sport.
There was hope as the fielding side excelled, impetus when players scored quickly, and pure joy when the win was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has form with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a wicket with the excitement of a a non-event.
That fixture was a grind, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that previous match are polar opposites of the spectrum – one is not more ideal, yet significance can be found in them.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," observed a former player. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been treated to some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The players delivered for him, reinstating the smile to his persona.
Different players performed with crucial roles. These are baby steps, hardly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but something to build on.
In the end, this Melbourne victory joins other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters left into a stunning sunset, the players congregated on the outfield to commence their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
