Within a showcase on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a electric pink suit worn by the entertainer. His concert in front of a massive crowd of fans was hailed as a major hit.
It's possible you enjoy the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music in history. You might take a middle ground, acknowledging that some songs are excellent while others are terrible.
The point being is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to create music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on conditions.
The weather, the session, the ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the long game is art, the wicket is the foundation on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the great game broken apart and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the surface which produced a win and the another short match of the contest.
Having excessive grass on the pitch, leading to a cascade of wickets tumbling in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a lesser event, one that should be qualified as not a proper Test, is mistaken.
The format is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. In contrast, it spins sharply on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling because of the patience made elsewhere.
Adjustment: The True Test
Certain variables are accepted more freely than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were hindered from showcasing their talents.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the conditions and adapting accordingly. The top two individual innings were made by world-class batters. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Attempt to convince the fans who have experienced years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
In a corner of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and sang their songs, generating a party atmosphere in a heartland of sport.
There was hope as the bowlers dominated, impetus when batters responded, and pure joy when the result was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with difficult wickets. Previously, a Test there featured a strip with all the life of a a damp squib.
That fixture was a grind, with minimal action and endless boredom. This recent match and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – one is not more the standard, yet significance can be found in each.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the end of the format at all," commented a past champion. "The people who have been fortunate to see these two days have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The players responded for him, reinstating the joy to his countenance.
New faces delivered with key contributions. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to ensure long-term stability, but something to use as a platform.
At the very least, this triumph takes its place among other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters departed into a beautiful night, the team gathered on the outfield to commence their own festivities.
Savour the moment, men. It's well deserved.
