Displayed inside a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a vibrant pink suit worn by the entertainer. His performance in front of a hundred thousand spectators was seen as a major hit.
You might not enjoy the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. Or you could adopt a middle ground, acknowledging that some tracks are excellent while others are terrible.
The central idea is that amusement can take many forms. You like what you like. There is not a single method to create literature or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.
The climate, the time of day, the red ball – the list is endless. Most important is the pitch.
If the format is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the blank slate on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the established format dismantled and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the pitch which produced a win and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Leaving a thick layer on the pitch, resulting in numerous dismissals tumbling in less than six sessions, is not an even battle between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is incorrect.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, 2,615 parts and still growing. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball does all sorts for the fast men. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The exciting finishes are even more exciting due to the time devoted during quieter periods.
Adjustment: The True Test
Certain variables are accepted more freely than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the contest was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the best players were unable from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – reading the situation and adapting appropriately. The top two individual contributions were made by world-class players. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: The Supporters' View
Attempt to convince the supporters who have endured 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the ground, thousands waved their flags and sang their songs, producing a carnival vibe in a heartland of sport.
There was hope as the attack excelled, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the win was secured.
Contrasting Examples: The Variety of Test Matches
The venue has form with difficult wickets. In the past, a match there featured a wicket with the excitement of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with few wickets and interminable tedium. This recent match and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the spectrum – one is not more perfect, yet historical weight can be ascribed to both.
At this stage into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the demise of Test cricket at all," commented a former player. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these short time have been experienced some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The players responded for him, bringing back the smile to his persona.
New faces performed with crucial roles. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but something to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory joins other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the squad congregated on the turf to start their own celebrations.
Enjoy the drink, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
