Displayed inside a showcase on the third floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium sits a vibrant pink suit performed in by the entertainer. His show in front of a hundred thousand spectators was considered a success.
You might not enjoy the performer. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a balanced view, admitting that some hits are excellent while others are awful.
The central idea is that enjoyment can manifest in countless ways. Preferences differ. There is no universal formula to produce music or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon conditions.
The elements, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is art, the pitch is the blank slate on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport dismantled and reconstructed in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the pitch which produced a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the surface, leading to a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The long game is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and counting. At times, as witnessed recently, the ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it turns square on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling owing to the investment made in other matches.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Some factors are accepted more freely than others.
The debate in during the match was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the top batters were hindered from playing their natural game.
The format is about adapting to challenges – assessing the conditions and adjusting appropriately. The top two individual scores were made by world-class batters. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Sheer Celebration: The Supporters' View
Try telling the supporters who have endured a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the MCG, thousands celebrated and created an atmosphere, producing a carnival vibe in a bastion of national pride.
There was hope as the attack excelled, advantage when batters responded, and rapturous celebration when the victory was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a strip with the excitement of a a non-event.
That contest was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – one is not more perfect, yet value can be found in them.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the memory.
"Far from being the death of Test cricket at all," said a veteran. "The people who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been treated to some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The players responded for him, bringing back the smile to his countenance.
Different players performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but a starting point to use as a platform.
In the end, this MCG win joins other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans slipped away into a beautiful night, the players assembled on the outfield to start their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, lads. It's well deserved.
