Within a showcase on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a vibrant pink ensemble donned by the pop star. His show in front of a massive crowd of spectators was considered a major hit.
It's possible you enjoy the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are excellent while others are terrible.
The point being is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Preferences differ. There is no one way to craft music or even the longest format.
The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game
The traditional format boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so reliant upon the environment.
The weather, the time of day, the red ball – the variables are numerous. Above all is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the strip is the foundation on which the players paint their masterpiece.
An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between the two sides was an abstract version of cricket, the great game dismantled and stuck back together in abstract form.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the pitch which produced a win and the second two-day Test of the Ashes battle.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the pitch, resulting in numerous dismissals falling in less than two days, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a lesser event, one that should be qualified as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and still growing. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the ball does all sorts for the fast men. Other times, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it explodes.
The thrillers are particularly captivating because of the time committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are embraced more easily than others.
The argument in at the MCG was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the best players were prevented from playing their natural game.
Test cricket is about problem solving – reading the conditions and responding effectively. The two highest individual scores were made by recognized players. One line-up committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited
Try telling the devotees who have experienced years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
In one section of the stadium, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, fostering a festive mood in a bastion of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the attack dominated, momentum when the top order scored quickly, and pure joy when the victory was secured.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a pitch with all the life of a a damp squib.
That contest was a marathon, with limited drama and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – both are not perfect, yet value can be found in them.
Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the history books.
"It's not the demise of the format at all," commented a veteran. "Fans who have been privileged to see these short time have been experienced some real entertainment. An unusual spectacle."
Small Victories: Looking Ahead
In the lead-in to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The team delivered for him, reinstating the positive demeanor to his face.
New faces performed with crucial roles. These are small positives, hardly enough to guarantee long-term stability, but something to develop from.
At the very least, this triumph is added to other memorable performances in meaningless games.
As the crowd left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the field to start their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, men. It's well deserved.
