In a display cabinet on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a electric pink ensemble performed in by the entertainer. The performance in front of 100,024 spectators was hailed as a success.
It's possible you appreciate his music. You might think he is the finest offering to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, admitting that some songs are excellent while others are terrible.
The central idea is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is no one way to produce art or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by conditions.
The elements, the time of day, the red ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the pitch.
If the long game is art, the wicket is the blank slate on which the athletes craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport taken to pieces and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the surface which yielded a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Allowing a thick layer on the surface, leading to numerous dismissals falling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, a long history and ongoing. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are even more exciting due to the patience made in other matches.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Some factors are accepted more readily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the best players were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and responding effectively. The two highest individual innings were made by acknowledged stars. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Attempt to convince the devotees who have endured 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the MCG, countless fans made noise and chanted, producing a carnival vibe in a bastion of national pride.
There was belief as the fielding side dominated, momentum when players fought back, and pure joy when the result was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The venue has a history with controversial surfaces. Previously, a game there featured a pitch with the character of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that previous match are extreme ends of the spectrum – one is not more perfect, yet historical weight can be found in them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will live longest in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the demise of Test cricket at all," observed a past champion. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these short time have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the preparation to this match, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The squad protected him, reinstating the joy to his face.
New faces performed with key contributions. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to ensure long-term success, but a starting point to develop from.
In the end, this MCG win is added to other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the squad congregated on the field to begin their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, boys. You've earned this one.
