Within a glass case on the elevated floor of the MCG is housed a neon pink outfit donned by Robbie Williams. His concert in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a success.
It's possible you like the performer. You might think he is the finest offering to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a middle ground, conceding that some tracks are fantastic while others are awful.
The central idea is that enjoyment can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to produce music or even five-day cricket.
The Peerless Spectrum of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the hour of play, the ball – the list is endless. Above all is the wicket.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the wicket is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the established format taken to pieces and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the surface which resulted in a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the pitch, causing numerous dismissals tumbling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a inferior show, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is mistaken.
The long game is a varied portfolio, a long history and still growing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Other times, it grips and turns on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are particularly captivating owing to the time committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Certain variables are accepted more easily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the attack. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about finding solutions – reading the situation and adjusting effectively. The two highest individual innings were made by recognized stars. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.
Pure Elation: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the devotees who have suffered 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the ground, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was hope as the fielding side excelled, advantage when players responded, and rapturous celebration when the result was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a wicket with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That match was a grind, with minimal action and slow play. The latest encounter and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – neither perfect, yet historical weight can be found in them.
At this stage into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the memory.
"Far from being the demise of Test cricket at all," said a former player. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these short time have been treated to some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the build-up to this Test, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The players delivered for him, restoring the joy to his countenance.
Emerging talents delivered with vital performances. These are small positives, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this Melbourne victory joins other notable performances in meaningless games.
As the crowd slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the squad gathered on the turf to commence their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, boys. It's well deserved.
