In a display cabinet on the upper level of the MCG sits a vibrant pink suit worn by the pop star. The concert in front of 100,024 spectators was hailed as a success.
You might not enjoy his music. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music in history. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, admitting that some tracks are fantastic while others are poor.
The key argument is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to craft art or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on conditions.
The climate, the session, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Most important is the pitch.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the wicket is the canvas on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the established format broken apart and reassembled in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the pitch which resulted in a triumph and the another short match of the contest.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the surface, resulting in 36 wickets tumbling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The format is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball moves excessively for the seamers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are even more exciting owing to the time committed during quieter periods.
Adaptation: The True Test
Specific conditions are tolerated more easily than others.
The contention in during the match was that the contest was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about adapting to challenges – interpreting the conditions and responding effectively. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged stars. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the fans who have experienced 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In a corner of the MCG, countless fans celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a party atmosphere in a stronghold of Australian cricket.
There was belief as the attack excelled, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and pure joy when the result was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has previous experience with controversial surfaces. Previously, a game there featured a strip with the character of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with minimal action and slow play. This recent match and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – both are not perfect, yet significance can be attached to both.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the quick finishes that will remain iconic in the memory.
"It's not the death of the long game at all," commented a past champion. "Fans who have been privileged to see these two days have been experienced some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The players protected him, bringing back the positive demeanor to his face.
Emerging talents delivered with key contributions. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to secure long-term stability, but a starting point to develop from.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory joins other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans slipped away into a beautiful night, the squad assembled on the turf to commence their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, boys. It's well deserved.
