Within a showcase on the elevated floor of the MCG is housed a vibrant pink outfit donned by the entertainer. His performance in front of a massive crowd of fans was hailed as a major hit.
You might not appreciate Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the ultimate present to music in history. Or you could adopt a balanced view, conceding that some tracks are fantastic while others are awful.
The central idea is that enjoyment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to produce literature or even Test cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.
The weather, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the playing surface.
If the long game is a form of art, the strip is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between the old rivals was Test cricket cubism, the great game broken apart and stuck back together in abstract form.
It must be stated this is not a endorsement of the wicket which yielded a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, resulting in a cascade of wickets falling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is incorrect.
The format is a rich tapestry, a long history and still growing. On occasion, like in Melbourne, the ball moves excessively for the seamers. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling due to the time devoted in other matches.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Some factors are tolerated more readily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the best players were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The two highest individual contributions were made by acknowledged stars. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Try telling the fans who have experienced a long drought that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the stadium, countless fans celebrated and chanted, fostering a carnival vibe in a stronghold of sport.
There was belief as the bowlers dominated, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the victory was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has form with pitch problems. Previously, a match there featured a strip with the character of a a non-event.
That fixture was a marathon, with minimal action and endless boredom. The latest encounter and that previous match are extreme ends of the scale – both are not ideal, yet significance can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the history books.
"It's not the end of Test cricket at all," said a former player. "Fans who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been experienced some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the preparation to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the heavy burden on his back.
The squad protected him, restoring the smile to his face.
New faces performed with key contributions. These are incremental gains, hardly enough to ensure long-term success, but a starting point to use as a platform.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory is added to other historic performances in similar circumstances.
As the fans departed into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players gathered on the turf to begin their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
