Displayed inside a showcase on the upper level of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a electric pink ensemble performed in by the entertainer. His performance in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a major hit.
You might not appreciate his music. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music in history. You might take a reasonable stance, admitting that some songs are belting while others are awful.
The central idea is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to produce art or even Test cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts unrivalled depth. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon conditions.
The elements, the session, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Above all is the pitch.
If Test cricket is art, the strip is the blank slate on which the athletes create their art.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The fourth Ashes Test between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the established format taken to pieces and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the wicket which produced a victory and the second two-day Test of the series.
Allowing excessive grass on the wicket, causing 36 wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is mistaken.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and ongoing. On occasion, as seen at the MCG, the ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it turns square on a spinning track. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are all the more thrilling because of the time devoted in other matches.
Adjustment: The True Test
Some factors are embraced more readily than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were hindered from playing their natural game.
The format is about finding solutions – assessing the conditions and adjusting effectively. The top two individual scores were made by world-class batters. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective
Try telling the supporters who have endured years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the MCG, a sea of people made noise and chanted, fostering a festive mood in a stronghold of sport.
There was belief as the attack excelled, advantage when the top order scored quickly, and unconditional love when the victory was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with difficult wickets. In the past, a game there featured a strip with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That contest was a marathon, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the scale – neither ideal, yet historical weight can be found in both.
At this stage into the Ashes contest, it is the shortest games that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the end of the format at all," observed a veteran. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.
The team responded for him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.
Different players delivered with vital performances. These are small positives, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term success, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this triumph is added to other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd left into a beautiful night, the team congregated on the outfield to begin their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, lads. This victory was hard-fought.