'Are You Not Entertained?' The Reason a Two-Day Fixture Remained Every Bit a Genuine Test.

In a showcase on the elevated floor of the MCG sits a vibrant pink suit worn by Robbie Williams. His performance in front of 100,024 spectators was considered a major hit.

It's possible you enjoy the performer. You might think he is the ultimate present to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, admitting that some hits are excellent while others are awful.

The key argument is that entertainment can take many forms. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to produce music or even Test cricket.

The Unrivalled Depth of Test Cricket

Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the outcome is so reliant upon external factors.

The weather, the time of day, the ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.

If Test cricket is a form of art, the pitch is the canvas on which the cricketers craft their legacy.

An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle

The Boxing Day fixture between the two sides was Test cricket cubism, the established format dismantled and reassembled in abstract form.

It must be stated this is not a justification of the surface which produced a victory and the another short match of the contest.

Leaving excessive grass on the wicket, leading to numerous dismissals being taken in less than a brief period, is not a balanced duel between offense and defense.

A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket

But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as not a proper Test, is wide of the mark.

The long game is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and ongoing. On occasion, as seen at the MCG, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it grips and turns on a spinning track. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it bounces unevenly.

The exciting finishes are even more exciting owing to the investment devoted in other matches.

Problem Solving: The Real Challenge

Specific conditions are embraced more freely than others.

The argument in Melbourne was that the balance was tipped too far towards the attack. That the best players were hindered from demonstrating their skill.

Test cricket is about problem solving – interpreting the wicket and adjusting appropriately. The best individual innings were made by world-class players. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus were defeated.

Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited

Try telling the devotees who have endured years of defeat that this was not entertaining.

Among the crowd of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and chanted, generating a festive mood in a bastion of sport.

There was hope as the attack surged, momentum when batters fought back, and rapturous celebration when the victory was achieved.

Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches

The Melbourne has a history with difficult wickets. In the past, a match there featured a wicket with all the life of a a damp squib.

That fixture was a marathon, with minimal action and interminable tedium. The two-day game and that slow Test are polar opposites of the scale – one is not more the standard, yet significance can be attached to them.

Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the history books.

"It's not the end of the long game at all," said a veteran. "Spectators who have been privileged to see these two days have been experienced some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."

Signs of Progress: Looking Ahead

In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his mind.

The squad protected him, bringing back the joy to his countenance.

New faces performed with vital performances. These are small positives, not nearly enough to ensure long-term futures, but something to use as a platform.

In the end, this triumph takes its place among other memorable performances in similar circumstances.

As the crowd slipped away into a beautiful night, the players assembled on the turf to start their own festivities.

Savour the moment, lads. You've earned this one.