Within a glass case on the third floor of the MCG is housed a neon pink suit worn by the entertainer. His performance in front of a hundred thousand fans was seen as a success.
You might not like his music. Perhaps you believe he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a balanced view, conceding that some tracks are fantastic while others are poor.
The central idea is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to create art or even the longest format.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Test Format
The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Most important is the playing surface.
If the format is a form of art, the pitch is the foundation on which the players paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport taken to pieces and reassembled in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the surface which resulted in a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the wicket, leading to a cascade of wickets being taken in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and ongoing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The close matches are even more exciting owing to the patience committed elsewhere.
Adjustment: The True Test
Some factors are tolerated more freely than others.
The argument in during the match was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the top batters were unable from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about problem solving – assessing the wicket and adjusting accordingly. The two highest individual scores were made by world-class batters. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the fans who have suffered a long drought that this was not entertaining.
In a corner of the ground, a sea of people celebrated and created an atmosphere, generating a party atmosphere in a stronghold of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the bowlers dominated, impetus when batters fought back, and rapturous celebration when the win was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The venue has a history with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a strip with the character of a a damp squib.
That match was a marathon, with limited drama and endless boredom. The two-day game and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – one is not more the standard, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the shortest games that will be most remembered in the memory.
"Far from being the demise of the long game at all," commented a past champion. "Fans who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been given some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The squad responded for him, reinstating the positive demeanor to his countenance.
New faces delivered with vital performances. These are baby steps, not nearly enough to secure long-term futures, but a foundation to use as a platform.
At the very least, this MCG win joins other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd slipped away into a beautiful night, the players gathered on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
