'Was That Not a Show?' Why a 48-Hour Test Deserved Its Status as a Authentic Test Match.

Displayed inside a showcase on the upper level of the MCG is housed a vibrant pink suit performed in by Robbie Williams. His show in front of 100,024 attendees was considered a success.

It's possible you like his music. Perhaps you believe he is the greatest gift to music known to man. Or you could adopt a middle ground, acknowledging that some songs are fantastic while others are awful.

The central idea is that entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is not a single method to craft literature or even five-day cricket.

The Peerless Spectrum of The Test Format

The traditional format boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.

The elements, the hour of play, the cricket ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.

If the format is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the canvas on which the cricketers craft their legacy.

A Test of Cubism: The Melbourne Spectacle

The fourth Ashes Test between the two sides was the game deconstructed, the great game dismantled and reassembled in an unusual manner.

This is not a justification of the pitch which resulted in a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.

Leaving a thick layer on the pitch, leading to a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.

A Varied History: The Nature of Test Cricket

But any idea this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is incorrect.

The long game is a diverse canvas, a long history and counting. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the fast men. Other times, it turns square on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.

The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling owing to the investment committed in other matches.

Adjustment: The Core Skill

Some factors are accepted more easily than others.

The debate in during the match was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the top batters were unable from playing their natural game.

This level of cricket is about adapting to challenges – assessing the conditions and adjusting accordingly. The two highest individual contributions were made by world-class batters. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus were defeated.

Pure Elation: The Supporters' View

Go and inform the fans who have suffered 18 winless matches that this was not entertaining.

Among the crowd of the stadium, thousands waved their flags and created an atmosphere, fostering a festive mood in a heartland of sport.

There was belief as the fielding side surged, advantage when players responded, and pure joy when the win was secured.

Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches

The venue has previous experience with controversial surfaces. Previously, a Test there featured a strip with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.

That fixture was a grind, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the scale – neither perfect, yet value can be attached to them.

Four Tests into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the history books.

"It's not the end of the long game at all," observed a former player. "Fans who have been lucky enough to see these two days have been experienced some genuine drama. An unusual spectacle."

Signs of Progress: Building for the Future

In the lead-in to this match, the captain spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.

The team protected him, bringing back the smile to his countenance.

Emerging talents delivered with vital performances. These are incremental gains, certainly not enough to ensure long-term stability, but something to build on.

Ultimately, this MCG win joins other historic performances in meaningless games.

As the fans left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the squad assembled on the turf to begin their own festivities.

Celebrate the win, men. This victory was hard-fought.