Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a electric pink suit performed in by Robbie Williams. The performance in front of 100,024 attendees was considered a triumph.
Perhaps you don't appreciate Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the finest offering to music known to man. Or you could adopt a balanced view, conceding that some songs are excellent while others are awful.
The key argument is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. Preferences differ. There is not a single method to produce art or even the longest format.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by conditions.
The elements, the session, the red ball – the list is endless. Crucially is the pitch.
If the long game is art, the pitch is the blank slate on which the players create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the established format taken to pieces and reassembled in an unusual manner.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the wicket which produced a triumph and the second two-day Test of the contest.
Having excessive grass on the wicket, resulting in 36 wickets being taken in less than two days, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as not a proper Test, is incorrect.
The long game is a varied portfolio, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the cricket ball moves excessively for the fast men. Other times, it spins sharply on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it explodes.
The close matches are all the more thrilling owing to the time made in other matches.
Adaptation: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are accepted more readily than others.
The argument in during the match was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about adapting to challenges – reading the situation and responding accordingly. The best individual innings were made by acknowledged batters. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the devotees who have endured years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
In a corner of the ground, a sea of people made noise and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a heartland of sport.
There was optimism as the attack dominated, momentum when players responded, and pure joy when the win was achieved.
Contrasting Examples: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with pitch problems. Previously, a Test there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That match was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the range – both are not perfect, yet value can be attached to each.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"It's not the demise of Test cricket at all," said a veteran. "The people who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been experienced some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope
In the build-up to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The players protected him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.
Emerging talents stepped up with vital performances. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to secure long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters slipped away into a beautiful night, the players assembled on the turf to begin their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, boys. You've earned this one.
