Displayed inside a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a vibrant pink outfit performed in by the pop star. The concert in front of a hundred thousand fans was considered a major hit.
Perhaps you don't like the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a middle ground, conceding that some songs are excellent while others are poor.
The key argument is that enjoyment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to craft art or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by conditions.
The elements, the time of day, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Above all is the pitch.
If the long game is art, the strip is the canvas on which the players create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport dismantled and reconstructed in an unusual manner.
This is not a endorsement of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the surface, causing numerous dismissals being taken in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Rich Tapestry: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be qualified as not a proper Test, is incorrect.
The format is a rich tapestry, a long history and counting. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it turns square on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are even more exciting because of the time devoted in other matches.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Certain variables are embraced more easily than others.
The contention in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the attack. That the skilled individuals were hindered from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – reading the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The two highest individual innings were made by recognized players. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Attempt to convince the devotees who have endured years of defeat that this wasn't compelling.
Among the crowd of the stadium, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, generating a festive mood in a bastion of sport.
There was belief as the bowlers excelled, advantage when players scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the result was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with controversial surfaces. Previously, a game there featured a wicket with the excitement of a a non-event.
That match was a marathon, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that slow Test are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more ideal, yet significance can be ascribed to both.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the shortest games that will be most remembered in the history books.
"It's not the end of the format at all," observed a past champion. "Spectators who have been fortunate to see these two days have been given some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the preparation to this Test, the leader talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The squad protected him, bringing back the joy to his face.
New faces delivered with key contributions. These are baby steps, hardly enough to guarantee long-term success, but something to use as a platform.
In the end, this MCG win is added to other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players assembled on the outfield to start their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, men. It's well deserved.
