Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a vibrant pink outfit performed in by the pop star. His performance in front of 100,024 fans was seen as a major hit.
Perhaps you don't enjoy the performer. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music known to man. Or you could adopt a balanced view, acknowledging that some songs are fantastic while others are terrible.
The key argument is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create music or even Test cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of Test Cricket
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by the environment.
The elements, the hour of play, the ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the pitch.
If Test cricket is art, the wicket is the foundation on which the players craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the great game dismantled and reconstructed in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a justification of the pitch which produced a triumph and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the pitch, causing a cascade of wickets being taken in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is incorrect.
The format is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are even more exciting owing to the investment made in other matches.
Adaptation: The Real Challenge
Some factors are embraced more readily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the top batters were unable from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about adapting to challenges – assessing the conditions and adjusting accordingly. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged batters. One team made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the devotees who have endured years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the MCG, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a party atmosphere in a bastion of national pride.
There was belief as the attack dominated, momentum when the top order scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the victory was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The MCG has form with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a match there featured a strip with the character of a a non-event.
That match was a marathon, with limited drama and slow play. This recent match and that slow Test are extreme ends of the spectrum – both are not perfect, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
At this stage into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the end of Test cricket at all," commented a veteran. "Spectators who have been fortunate to see these 48 hours have been given some fantastic sport. A unique show."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the build-up to this Test, the leader spoke like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The players delivered for him, restoring the joy to his persona.
New faces delivered with crucial roles. These are baby steps, hardly enough to secure long-term stability, but a starting point to develop from.
In the end, this MCG win joins other notable performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the squad assembled on the turf to begin their own celebrations.
Enjoy the drink, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
