Displayed inside a display cabinet on the upper level of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a neon pink outfit donned by the pop star. His performance in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a major hit.
You might not like Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, conceding that some tracks are belting while others are awful.
The key argument is that amusement can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no one way to craft music or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Test Format
The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. It is hard to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon the environment.
The elements, the time of day, the ball – the factors are countless. Crucially is the playing surface.
If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the wicket is the foundation on which the players paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the established format broken apart and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
This is not a endorsement of the wicket which yielded a triumph and the another short match of the contest.
Having excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets falling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, over two thousand matches and ongoing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball does all sorts for the seamers. Other times, it spins sharply on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.
The thrillers are all the more thrilling owing to the time committed elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Certain variables are accepted more readily than others.
The debate in Melbourne was that the balance was weighted unfairly towards the fielding side. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – interpreting the wicket and adapting accordingly. The two highest individual contributions were made by acknowledged players. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Pure Elation: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the devotees who have experienced 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the stadium, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, generating a festive mood in a heartland of Australian cricket.
There was belief as the attack dominated, impetus when players scored quickly, and rapturous celebration when the victory was confirmed.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has previous experience with controversial surfaces. Previously, a match there featured a pitch with the excitement of a a non-event.
That fixture was a marathon, with limited drama and endless boredom. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the range – one is not more the standard, yet significance can be found in them.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"It's not the demise of the long game at all," commented a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been given some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Baby Steps: A Glimmer of Hope
In the preparation to this Test, the leader spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.
The players responded for him, restoring the joy to his persona.
Emerging talents delivered with key contributions. These are small positives, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term futures, but a foundation to develop from.
In the end, this triumph takes its place among other memorable performances in meaningless games.
As the crowd left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the outfield to begin their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, boys. It's well deserved.
