Displayed inside a showcase on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a vibrant pink outfit donned by the pop star. The show in front of a hundred thousand attendees was hailed as a triumph.
You might not like his music. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music in history. You might take a reasonable stance, acknowledging that some hits are excellent while others are terrible.
The key argument is that enjoyment can manifest in countless ways. Preferences differ. There is no universal formula to create music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon external factors.
The elements, the session, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the wicket is the canvas on which the players craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test
The recent Melbourne match between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the surface which produced a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the pitch, leading to numerous dismissals tumbling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is incorrect.
The format is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and still growing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the seamers. Other times, it spins sharply on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling owing to the patience made elsewhere.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Some factors are embraced more freely than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – reading the situation and adapting effectively. The two highest individual scores were made by recognized batters. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have experienced years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.
Among the crowd of the MCG, a sea of people made noise and sang their songs, generating a party atmosphere in a bastion of sport.
There was optimism as the bowlers dominated, impetus when players responded, and pure joy when the result was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The Melbourne has previous experience with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a match there featured a pitch with the character of a a non-event.
That contest was a marathon, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that previous match are polar opposites of the scale – neither perfect, yet significance can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the death of the long game at all," observed a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these short time have been experienced some genuine drama. A unique show."
Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead
In the preparation to this match, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the smile to his countenance.
Emerging talents stepped up with vital performances. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to secure long-term success, but a foundation to develop from.
In the end, this Melbourne victory is added to other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the outfield to begin their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, men. This victory was hard-fought.
