Displayed inside a showcase on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a vibrant pink suit worn by the entertainer. The concert in front of a massive crowd of fans was considered a triumph.
You might not enjoy the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the ultimate present to music in history. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are belting while others are poor.
The central idea is that amusement can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create art or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on conditions.
The elements, the hour of play, the red ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the foundation on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the established format broken apart and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the wicket which resulted in a win and the another sub-three-day finish of the series.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the wicket, leading to 36 wickets being taken in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The format is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and ongoing. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball moves excessively for the fast men. Other times, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The close matches are particularly captivating because of the patience devoted elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Certain variables are tolerated more easily than others.
The debate in during the match was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the top batters were unable from showcasing their talents.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the conditions and responding appropriately. The two highest individual contributions were made by world-class players. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Pure Elation: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the fans who have suffered 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and created an atmosphere, producing a festive mood in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the bowlers excelled, momentum when batters scored quickly, and unconditional love when the win was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with difficult wickets. Previously, a match there featured a strip with the character of a a damp squib.
That contest was a grind, with few wickets and slow play. This recent match and that slow Test are polar opposites of the scale – both are not ideal, yet historical weight can be found in both.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the history books.
"Far from being the demise of the format at all," commented a veteran. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The squad protected him, bringing back the positive demeanor to his face.
New faces performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to ensure long-term success, but a foundation to develop from.
At the very least, this triumph joins other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd departed into a beautiful night, the players congregated on the turf to begin their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, men. You've earned this one.
