Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the MCG is housed a vibrant pink ensemble donned by the entertainer. His show in front of 100,024 attendees was seen as a triumph.
Perhaps you don't enjoy Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the greatest gift to music known to man. Or you could adopt a balanced view, conceding that some hits are belting while others are terrible.
The point being is that enjoyment can take many forms. Preferences differ. There is not a single method to produce music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on the environment.
The climate, the time of day, the cricket ball – the list is endless. Most important is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the strip is the canvas on which the athletes paint their masterpiece.
A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the traditional sport dismantled and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the wicket which yielded a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Having a thick layer on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between offense and defense.
A Varied History: The Core of Test Cricket
But any idea this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a diverse canvas, a long history and ongoing. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the fast men. Sometimes, it spins sharply on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time committed in other matches.
Adjustment: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are accepted more easily than others.
The debate in Melbourne was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the best players were hindered from showcasing their talents.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the wicket and adapting appropriately. The top two individual scores were made by world-class players. One team was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Try telling the fans who have endured years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.
In a corner of the MCG, thousands celebrated and chanted, producing a festive mood in a stronghold of national pride.
There was belief as the bowlers excelled, momentum when players responded, and pure joy when the victory was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The venue has form with pitch problems. Previously, a Test there featured a wicket with the character of a a non-event.
That fixture was a slog, with minimal action and slow play. The latest encounter and that slow Test are diametrically opposed points of the spectrum – one is not more the standard, yet value can be ascribed to both.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the memory.
"Far from being the death of the format at all," said a former player. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
The squad responded for him, restoring the positive demeanor to his face.
Emerging talents delivered with crucial roles. These are small positives, not nearly enough to secure long-term success, but a starting point to develop from.
In the end, this MCG win joins other memorable performances in similar circumstances.
As the crowd departed into a stunning sunset, the team congregated on the outfield to commence their own enjoyment.
Enjoy the drink, lads. You've earned this one.
