Within a showcase on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a electric pink suit donned by the pop star. His concert in front of a hundred thousand attendees was seen as a major hit.
It's possible you enjoy Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, conceding that some hits are fantastic while others are terrible.
The key argument is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is not a single method to produce music or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon external factors.
The elements, the time of day, the ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If the format is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the canvas on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the great game dismantled and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
This is not a endorsement of the surface which produced a victory and the another short match of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, leading to numerous dismissals being taken in less than a brief period, is not a balanced duel between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is incorrect.
The long game is a diverse canvas, a long history and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball moves excessively for the seamers. In contrast, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are even more exciting due to the time devoted elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Some factors are tolerated more freely than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the top batters were hindered from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – reading the conditions and responding effectively. The best individual scores were made by world-class players. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the devotees who have suffered a long drought that this wasn't compelling.
In a corner of the ground, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, generating a festive mood in a stronghold of sport.
There was hope as the bowlers excelled, impetus when the top order scored quickly, and unconditional love when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a game there featured a wicket with all the life of a a non-event.
That fixture was a grind, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that slow Test are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet value can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the memory.
"It's not the end of the long game at all," observed a former player. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been treated to some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope
In the preparation to this Test, the leader spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The team responded for him, restoring the smile to his face.
New faces delivered with vital performances. These are baby steps, certainly not enough to ensure long-term success, but a foundation to build on.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory joins other memorable performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the turf to begin their own festivities.
Savour the moment, lads. You've earned this one.
