Within a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a electric pink suit donned by the pop star. The concert in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a triumph.
It's possible you appreciate Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, acknowledging that some songs are excellent while others are terrible.
The central idea is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no universal formula to create music or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by conditions.
The elements, the hour of play, the red ball – the variables are numerous. Most important is the wicket.
If the long game is a form of art, the wicket is the blank slate on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport dismantled and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the pitch which produced a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the series.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the wicket, resulting in a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is incorrect.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. On occasion, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it turns square on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it explodes.
The close matches are particularly captivating due to the time committed elsewhere.
Adjustment: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are embraced more easily than others.
The debate in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the best players were hindered from playing their natural game.
The format is about adapting to challenges – interpreting the wicket and adjusting accordingly. The top two individual innings were made by acknowledged batters. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Go and inform the fans who have endured 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the MCG, a sea of people waved their flags and created an atmosphere, producing a party atmosphere in a bastion of sport.
There was hope as the fielding side excelled, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has a history with pitch problems. Previously, a Test there featured a strip with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a marathon, with limited drama and slow play. This recent match and that slow Test are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more the standard, yet value can be found in them.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the quick finishes that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the death of the format at all," commented a veteran. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been experienced some real entertainment. A unique show."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The team responded for him, restoring the positive demeanor to his face.
Emerging talents stepped up with key contributions. These are small positives, hardly enough to secure long-term stability, but a foundation to use as a platform.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other notable performances in meaningless games.
As the supporters departed into a stunning sunset, the squad gathered on the turf to start their own festivities.
Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.
