Displayed inside a display cabinet on the third floor of the MCG sits a vibrant pink outfit donned by the entertainer. His concert in front of 100,024 fans was seen as a success.
Perhaps you don't like his music. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. Or you could adopt a middle ground, conceding that some hits are fantastic while others are terrible.
The key argument is that amusement can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no one way to craft art or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by the environment.
The weather, the session, the ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the playing surface.
If the format is a form of art, the pitch is the foundation on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the established format taken to pieces and reassembled in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the surface which yielded a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the surface, leading to numerous dismissals tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and still growing. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Other times, it turns square on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling owing to the patience devoted elsewhere.
Adjustment: The True Test
Some factors are accepted more easily than others.
The contention in during the match was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
The format is about finding solutions – interpreting the conditions and adapting appropriately. The best individual scores were made by world-class stars. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective
Attempt to convince the fans who have experienced 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In a corner of the ground, thousands made noise and created an atmosphere, fostering a carnival vibe in a bastion of sport.
There was belief as the attack excelled, advantage when batters responded, and pure joy when the win was confirmed.
Contrasting Examples: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The venue has a history with pitch problems. Previously, a game there featured a pitch with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That fixture was a grind, with few wickets and slow play. The latest encounter and that previous match are polar opposites of the spectrum – neither perfect, yet significance can be found in each.
At this stage into the current series, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the death of the format at all," said a past champion. "Fans who have been privileged to see these short time have been treated to some fantastic sport. A unique show."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the preparation to this Test, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The team protected him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.
New faces stepped up with key contributions. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a starting point to use as a platform.
In the end, this triumph joins other notable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd slipped away into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the turf to begin their own festivities.
Celebrate the win, men. You've earned this one.
