Displayed inside a showcase on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a vibrant pink ensemble performed in by the pop star. The show in front of 100,024 attendees was considered a major hit.
It's possible you enjoy his music. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, acknowledging that some tracks are fantastic while others are awful.
The central idea is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is not a single method to produce music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon external factors.
The elements, the session, the red ball – the list is endless. Above all is the playing surface.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the canvas on which the players paint their masterpiece.
A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the established format dismantled and reconstructed in a bizarre shape.
It must be stated this is not a defence of the surface which yielded a triumph and the another short match of the series.
Leaving excessive grass on the surface, causing numerous dismissals falling in less than two days, is not an even battle between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a lesser event, one that should be qualified as not a proper Test, is mistaken.
The format is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and still growing. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the seamers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it explodes.
The thrillers are even more exciting due to the time committed during quieter periods.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Some factors are accepted more freely than others.
The contention in during the match was that the balance was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the top batters were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – reading the conditions and adjusting effectively. The top two individual scores were made by recognized players. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Sheer Celebration: The Supporters' View
Attempt to convince the fans who have endured 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In a corner of the ground, countless fans celebrated and chanted, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was belief as the attack excelled, momentum when players fought back, and rapturous celebration when the victory was achieved.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has a history with pitch problems. In the past, a game there featured a wicket with the character of a a non-event.
That contest was a slog, with few wickets and slow play. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are polar opposites of the scale – neither perfect, yet historical weight can be ascribed to each.
Deep into the series into the Ashes contest, it is the shortest games that will remain iconic in the memory.
"It's not the death of the format at all," said a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these short time have been treated to some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The team responded for him, bringing back the smile to his countenance.
Emerging talents delivered with key contributions. These are baby steps, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term success, but a starting point to develop from.
At the very least, this MCG win takes its place among other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the supporters left into a stunning sunset, the squad gathered on the field to start their own festivities.
Enjoy the drink, lads. This victory was hard-fought.
