Within a glass case on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a neon pink outfit donned by Robbie Williams. The concert in front of 100,024 fans was considered a success.
It's possible you like Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some tracks are belting while others are poor.
The key argument is that amusement can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to produce art or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.
The climate, the session, the ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the wicket.
If the format is art, the wicket is the canvas on which the athletes create their art.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport broken apart and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the wicket which produced a win and the second two-day Test of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the surface, causing 36 wickets tumbling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is incorrect.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, a long history and still growing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball behaves unpredictably for the seamers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling due to the investment committed during quieter periods.
Adaptation: The Core Skill
Certain variables are accepted more freely than others.
The contention in Melbourne was that the balance was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about problem solving – assessing the conditions and responding effectively. The best individual scores were made by world-class stars. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Attempt to convince the fans who have suffered 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the ground, countless fans celebrated and created an atmosphere, producing a festive mood in a heartland of sport.
There was hope as the bowlers dominated, impetus when players scored quickly, and pure joy when the result was achieved.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a pitch with the excitement of a a damp squib.
That fixture was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. This recent match and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the range – both are not the standard, yet historical weight can be attached to each.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"It's not the end of the format at all," observed a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this match, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The players delivered for him, bringing back the joy to his persona.
New faces delivered with key contributions. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term success, but a starting point to build on.
At the very least, this MCG win takes its place among other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters slipped away into a beautiful night, the squad assembled on the turf to commence their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
