In a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a vibrant pink suit worn by the entertainer. His performance in front of a hundred thousand attendees was hailed as a major hit.
Perhaps you don't enjoy the performer. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music known to man. You might take a balanced view, conceding that some hits are fantastic while others are poor.
The central idea is that amusement can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to craft literature or even five-day cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by the environment.
The climate, the session, the red ball – the factors are countless. Crucially is the wicket.
If the format is an artistic pursuit, the wicket is the blank slate on which the players paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the established format taken to pieces and reassembled in abstract form.
This is not a endorsement of the wicket which produced a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Leaving excessive grass on the wicket, resulting in a cascade of wickets tumbling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The long game is a rich tapestry, a long history and ongoing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The close matches are particularly captivating due to the time committed during quieter periods.
Adaptation: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are embraced more readily than others.
The argument in during the match was that the balance was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the top batters were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the wicket and adapting appropriately. The top two individual contributions were made by recognized stars. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the fans who have experienced a long drought that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was optimism as the bowlers excelled, momentum when players scored quickly, and pure joy when the result was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with difficult wickets. In the past, a Test there featured a wicket with the character of a a non-event.
That contest was a slog, with minimal action and endless boredom. This recent match and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – one is not more perfect, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the shortest games that will remain iconic in the memory.
"This isn't the demise of Test cricket at all," said a former player. "The people who have been fortunate to see these short time have been given some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this match, the captain spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The players delivered for him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.
Emerging talents stepped up with key contributions. These are baby steps, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but a foundation to build on.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory joins other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans left into a stunning sunset, the players gathered on the turf to begin their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
