Displayed inside a glass case on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a neon pink suit donned by the pop star. His performance in front of 100,024 fans was considered a success.
Perhaps you don't appreciate the performer. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, conceding that some tracks are excellent while others are terrible.
The central idea is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. Preferences differ. There is no universal formula to produce music or even the longest format.
The Unrivalled Depth of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the time of day, the red ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the wicket.
If the long game is a form of art, the pitch is the canvas on which the players craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the great game taken to pieces and reconstructed in abstract form.
This is not a justification of the surface which produced a win and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, resulting in a cascade of wickets falling in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and ongoing. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the fast men. Other times, it grips and turns on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The thrillers are particularly captivating due to the investment committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Certain variables are embraced more readily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the best players were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about adapting to challenges – assessing the conditions and adjusting appropriately. The best individual scores were made by world-class players. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the supporters who have endured years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the stadium, countless fans celebrated and sang their songs, generating a party atmosphere in a heartland of sport.
There was belief as the attack excelled, impetus when batters scored quickly, and unconditional love when the victory was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with difficult wickets. In the past, a match there featured a pitch with the character of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That contest was a grind, with minimal action and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that slow Test are polar opposites of the range – both are not perfect, yet value can be ascribed to them.
Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the memory.
"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," said a former player. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some real entertainment. A unique show."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the build-up to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The players responded for him, restoring the positive demeanor to his face.
Different players stepped up with key contributions. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term success, but a starting point to use as a platform.
In the end, this Melbourne victory is added to other memorable performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters left into a beautiful night, the squad congregated on the turf to commence their own enjoyment.
Celebrate the win, lads. It's well deserved.
