Displayed inside a glass case on the third floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium rests a electric pink ensemble donned by the entertainer. The concert in front of 100,024 attendees was seen as a success.
It's possible you enjoy Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music known to man. You might take a balanced view, admitting that some songs are fantastic while others are awful.
The point being is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no one way to create literature or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on conditions.
The climate, the session, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the strip is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between the old rivals 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 pitch which produced a victory and the another short match of the series.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the pitch, causing 36 wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is incorrect.
The long game is a diverse canvas, a long history and counting. At times, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it spins sharply on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling owing to the time committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are embraced more readily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about problem solving – reading the situation and adjusting effectively. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged batters. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Attempt to convince the fans who have suffered a long drought that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the MCG, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, generating a carnival vibe in a heartland of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the attack surged, advantage when batters scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the win was secured.
Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with pitch problems. Previously, a Test there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That contest was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. This recent match and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the scale – neither the standard, yet historical weight can be ascribed to both.
Deep into the series into the ongoing battle, it is the shortest games that will remain iconic in the history books.
"Far from being the demise of the long game at all," observed a former player. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been experienced some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the leader talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The players protected him, reinstating the positive demeanor to his countenance.
Emerging talents delivered with crucial roles. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to secure long-term futures, but something to use as a platform.
In the end, this MCG win is added to other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, men. It's well deserved.
