Within a display cabinet on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a electric pink outfit performed in by the entertainer. The performance in front of a massive crowd of spectators was hailed as a triumph.
You might not enjoy the performer. You might think he is the finest offering to music in history. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, admitting that some tracks are excellent while others are terrible.
The key argument is that entertainment can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is not a single method to create art or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by conditions.
The weather, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is a form of art, the strip is the canvas on which the cricketers create their art.
A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the great game broken apart and reconstructed in abstract form.
This is not a endorsement of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Leaving a thick layer on the pitch, causing numerous dismissals being taken in less than two days, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a lesser event, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and counting. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Other times, it grips and turns on a spinning track. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The exciting finishes are particularly captivating due to the patience devoted during quieter periods.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Specific conditions are tolerated more easily than others.
The debate in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the top batters were unable from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the situation and responding appropriately. The best individual scores were made by acknowledged batters. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the devotees who have suffered 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In a corner of the stadium, countless fans made noise and chanted, producing a carnival vibe in a heartland of Australian cricket.
There was belief as the fielding side dominated, impetus when the top order fought back, and rapturous celebration when the result was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has a history with pitch problems. Previously, a match there featured a strip with all the life of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. This recent match and that previous match are polar opposites of the spectrum – one is not more ideal, yet value can be ascribed to them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the end of the format at all," observed a former player. "Fans who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been experienced some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the preparation to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The team protected him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.
Emerging talents stepped up with crucial roles. These are small positives, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but something to develop from.
In the end, this Melbourne victory is added to other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the turf to commence their own festivities.
Enjoy the drink, men. You've earned this one.
