Displayed inside a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a neon pink suit performed in by the pop star. The show in front of 100,024 spectators was seen as a major hit.
It's possible you like the performer. You might think he is the greatest gift to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, acknowledging that some tracks are excellent while others are awful.
The point being is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to craft art or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on external factors.
The climate, the session, the ball – the list is endless. Above all is the playing surface.
If the format is a form of art, the strip is the foundation on which the cricketers create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between the old rivals was Test cricket cubism, the established format broken apart and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
This is not a endorsement of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the second two-day Test of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets tumbling in less than two days, is not an even battle between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball moves excessively for the fast men. In contrast, it turns square on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling due to the investment devoted in other matches.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Some factors are accepted more freely than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the balance was tipped too far towards the attack. That the top batters were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – reading the situation and responding accordingly. The two highest individual scores were made by acknowledged players. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have suffered 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and chanted, generating a party atmosphere in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was belief as the attack excelled, momentum when batters responded, and pure joy when the win was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with controversial surfaces. Eight years ago, a match there featured a strip with the excitement of a a damp squib.
That match was a slog, with limited drama and endless boredom. The latest encounter and that previous match are extreme ends of the scale – neither the standard, yet value can be found in each.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the history books.
"It's not the demise of the format at all," said a past champion. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these short time have been experienced some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The squad delivered for him, bringing back the smile to his face.
New faces performed with key contributions. These are small positives, hardly enough to secure long-term futures, but a starting point to develop from.
In the end, this Melbourne victory is added to other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans left into a stunning sunset, the team assembled on the field to start their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, lads. It's well deserved.
