In a glass case on the elevated floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a electric pink outfit donned by the pop star. The performance in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a major hit.
Perhaps you don't like his music. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music in history. You might take a balanced view, acknowledging that some hits are fantastic while others are awful.
The key argument is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is no one way to produce music or even Test cricket.
The Unrivalled Depth of The Long Game
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by conditions.
The climate, the session, the ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the pitch.
If the format is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the blank slate on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Fourth Test
The Boxing Day fixture between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the established format broken apart and reassembled in an unusual manner.
Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the surface which produced a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the contest.
Leaving 10mm of grass on the surface, causing numerous dismissals tumbling in less than a brief period, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is incorrect.
The format is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and counting. Sometimes, as seen at the MCG, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. Other times, it turns square on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it explodes.
The thrillers are even more exciting because of the investment made during quieter periods.
Adaptation: The True Test
Some factors are tolerated more easily than others.
The contention in during the match was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the skilled individuals were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
Test cricket is about adapting to challenges – reading the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The two highest individual innings were made by world-class batters. One line-up was less disciplined than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the supporters who have experienced years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the ground, thousands waved their flags and created an atmosphere, producing a festive mood in a heartland of Australian cricket.
There was hope as the attack dominated, momentum when players scored quickly, and pure joy when the win was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Variety of Test Matches
The MCG has form with difficult wickets. In the past, a match there featured a wicket with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That contest was a grind, with minimal action and slow play. The two-day game and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the scale – both are not perfect, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"This isn't the end of the long game at all," observed a past champion. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these short time have been given some genuine drama. Different entertainment."
Signs of Progress: Building for the Future
In the preparation to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The squad responded for him, reinstating the joy to his countenance.
Emerging talents performed with crucial roles. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term success, but a foundation to use as a platform.
In the end, this triumph joins other historic performances in meaningless games.
As the crowd departed into a beautiful night, the team gathered on the turf to begin their own festivities.
Savour the moment, lads. It's well deserved.
