In a showcase on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a neon pink suit donned by the pop star. His concert in front of 100,024 spectators was seen as a success.
Perhaps you don't appreciate his music. You might think he is the ultimate present to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a balanced view, acknowledging that some songs are belting while others are poor.
The point being is that amusement can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is not a single method to craft music or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon the environment.
The elements, the session, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Above all is the playing surface.
If Test cricket is a form of art, the wicket is the foundation on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the great game taken to pieces and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
This is not a defence of the surface which produced a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Allowing a thick layer on the pitch, causing numerous dismissals falling in less than two days, is not an even battle between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a varied portfolio, a long history and counting. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. Other times, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time committed in other matches.
Adjustment: The True Test
Some factors are embraced more readily than others.
The argument in during the match was that the balance was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the best players were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the conditions and adjusting appropriately. The top two individual contributions were made by acknowledged stars. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Try telling the fans who have endured 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the MCG, countless fans made noise and created an atmosphere, fostering a festive mood in a bastion of national pride.
There was hope as the fielding side surged, advantage when players fought back, and pure joy when the win was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches
The venue has a history with pitch problems. In the past, a match there featured a pitch with the character of a a non-event.
That match was a slog, with limited drama and interminable tedium. This recent match and that slow Test are extreme ends of the range – neither perfect, yet value can be ascribed to each.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the quick finishes that will be most remembered in the history books.
"This isn't the death of Test cricket at all," observed a former player. "Spectators who have been lucky enough to see these 48 hours have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this match, the captain talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The players protected him, restoring the joy to his countenance.
New faces stepped up with crucial roles. These are baby steps, hardly enough to ensure long-term futures, but a foundation to develop from.
At the very least, this MCG win joins other memorable performances in meaningless games.
As the fans left into a stunning sunset, the squad congregated on the field to commence their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, men. This victory was hard-fought.
