Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a vibrant pink outfit performed in by Robbie Williams. The performance in front of a hundred thousand attendees was hailed as a major hit.
Perhaps you don't like his music. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music in history. Or you could adopt a middle ground, acknowledging that some hits are fantastic while others are awful.
The central idea is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no one way to craft music or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by external factors.
The elements, the time of day, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the pitch is the canvas on which the players create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the great game dismantled and reconstructed in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the surface which yielded a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the series.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the wicket, resulting in numerous dismissals being taken in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as illegitimate, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, a long history and still growing. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the seamers. Other times, it spins sharply on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it explodes.
The close matches are all the more thrilling because of the investment devoted in other matches.
Adjustment: The Core Skill
Certain variables are accepted more freely than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
The format is about finding solutions – reading the wicket and adapting effectively. The best individual scores were made by acknowledged stars. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the devotees who have endured 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the ground, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was optimism as the fielding side surged, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Contrasting Examples: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has previous experience with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a strip with all the life of a a damp squib.
That match was a marathon, with few wickets and endless boredom. This recent match and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more perfect, yet historical weight can be ascribed to both.
Deep into the series into the ongoing battle, it is the shortest games that will be most remembered in the history books.
"It's not the end of the long game at all," commented a former player. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these short time have been given some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope
In the build-up to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The squad protected him, bringing back the joy to his persona.
Emerging talents delivered with key contributions. These are small positives, certainly not enough to ensure long-term success, but something to use as a platform.
At the very least, this MCG win is added to other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the squad assembled on the outfield to start their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
