Within a glass case on the third floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a neon pink outfit donned by the entertainer. His performance in front of 100,024 attendees was hailed as a success.
It's possible you appreciate his music. You might think he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. You might take a middle ground, admitting that some tracks are belting while others are awful.
The key argument is that amusement can manifest in countless ways. Tastes vary. There is no one way to craft music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by the environment.
The climate, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the wicket.
If the long game is art, the wicket is the blank slate on which the cricketers create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test
The recent Melbourne match between the old rivals was the game deconstructed, the great game dismantled and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
This is not a defence of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Leaving a thick layer on the surface, resulting in numerous dismissals being taken in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
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 pace bowlers. Other times, it grips and turns on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time devoted in other matches.
Adaptation: The True Test
Specific conditions are embraced more easily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the conditions and adapting effectively. The top two individual innings were made by world-class batters. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Attempt to convince the supporters who have suffered a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the ground, countless fans waved their flags and created an atmosphere, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was hope as the attack surged, advantage when batters fought back, and rapturous celebration when the win was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with pitch problems. Previously, a game there featured a pitch with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a marathon, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that slow Test are polar opposites of the spectrum – both are not perfect, yet significance can be attached to each.
At this stage into the current series, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the history books.
"It's not the demise of the long game at all," commented a veteran. "Fans who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The players delivered for him, reinstating the smile to his countenance.
New faces stepped up with crucial roles. These are baby steps, certainly not enough to ensure long-term futures, but something to develop from.
In the end, this triumph takes its place among other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team assembled on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
