In a showcase on the third floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a neon pink outfit donned by the pop star. The show in front of a massive crowd of fans was considered a success.
It's possible you like the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a balanced view, admitting that some songs are fantastic while others are poor.
The central idea is that amusement can take many forms. You like what you like. There is not a single method to create art or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon the environment.
The elements, the time of day, the red ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the canvas on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the great game dismantled and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the wicket which resulted in a victory and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets falling in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is incorrect.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and still growing. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the ball does all sorts for the fast men. Other times, it grips and turns on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it bounces unevenly.
The exciting finishes are particularly captivating because of the patience committed elsewhere.
Adjustment: The True Test
Specific conditions are tolerated more readily than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the contest was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the best players were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the situation and adapting effectively. The two highest individual scores were made by world-class players. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the supporters who have experienced 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
Among the crowd of the stadium, countless fans celebrated and chanted, generating a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was hope as the bowlers dominated, momentum when players responded, and pure joy when the result was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has previous experience with difficult wickets. Previously, a game there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the scale – neither ideal, yet value can be ascribed to them.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the history books.
"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," commented a former player. "The people who have been fortunate to see these short time have been treated to some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the preparation to this match, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his back.
The team protected him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.
Different players performed with key contributions. These are baby steps, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a starting point to develop from.
At the very least, this MCG win joins other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd slipped away into a stunning sunset, the squad assembled on the field to commence their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, men. This victory was hard-fought.
