Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a electric pink outfit performed in by the pop star. The show in front of a hundred thousand fans was hailed as a success.
Perhaps you don't enjoy Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some songs are belting while others are terrible.
The point being is that enjoyment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to produce literature or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. It is hard to think of another sport where the contest is so dependent on external factors.
The climate, the hour of play, the ball – the variables are numerous. Above all is the wicket.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the foundation on which the players paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport broken apart and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the surface which resulted in a win and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the pitch, causing numerous dismissals tumbling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Diverse Legacy: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it turns square on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time made during quieter periods.
Adaptation: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are embraced more freely than others.
The contention in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about adapting to challenges – assessing the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The top two individual scores were made by world-class stars. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the fans who have experienced 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the ground, a sea of people waved their flags and chanted, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was belief as the fielding side excelled, momentum when players responded, and rapturous celebration when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a match there featured a strip with the excitement of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with few wickets and endless boredom. This recent match and that previous match are diametrically opposed points of the range – one is not more the standard, yet historical weight can be found in both.
At this stage into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the history books.
"Far from being the death of the long game at all," commented a past champion. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these two days have been experienced some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the positive demeanor to his persona.
Different players performed with vital performances. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to secure long-term stability, but something to build on.
In the end, this triumph is added to other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans departed into a stunning sunset, the players assembled on the turf to begin their own festivities.
Savour the moment, men. This victory was hard-fought.
