'Are You Not Entertained?' The Reason a Shortened Match Deserved Its Status as a Proper Test Match.

Within a display cabinet on the third floor of the iconic Melbourne stadium is housed a vibrant pink suit worn by the pop star. The show in front of 100,024 spectators was hailed as a triumph.

It's possible you like Robbie Williams. Perhaps you believe he is the ultimate present to music in history. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, admitting that some songs are belting while others are awful.

The central idea is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to craft literature or even Test cricket.

The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format

The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.

The climate, the session, the ball – the variables are numerous. Above all is the wicket.

If the long game is art, the pitch is the canvas on which the cricketers create their art.

A Test of Cubism: The MCG Match

The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport taken to pieces and stuck back together in abstract form.

Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the wicket which yielded a triumph and the second two-day Test of the contest.

Allowing excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between batter and bowler.

A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket

But any idea this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as not a proper Test, is mistaken.

The format is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and counting. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball behaves unpredictably for the seamers. In contrast, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it explodes.

The exciting finishes are particularly captivating because of the time made in other matches.

Adaptation: The True Test

Specific conditions are tolerated more readily than others.

The argument in during the match was that the equilibrium was tipped too far towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were prevented from demonstrating their skill.

The format is about adapting to challenges – interpreting the wicket and adapting accordingly. The two highest individual scores were made by acknowledged stars. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus lost.

Unbridled Joy: The Fan Perspective

Go and inform the supporters who have suffered a long drought that this was not entertaining.

In one section of the stadium, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, generating a festive mood in a bastion of Australian cricket.

There was optimism as the fielding side surged, momentum when batters fought back, and rapturous celebration when the win was secured.

Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches

The Melbourne has previous experience with pitch problems. Previously, a game there featured a strip with the character of a a damp squib.

That fixture was a grind, with limited drama and endless boredom. The latest encounter and that previous match are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more perfect, yet significance can be ascribed to each.

Deep into the series into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the history books.

"This isn't the end of Test cricket at all," observed a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been treated to some fantastic sport. An unusual spectacle."

Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope

In the preparation to this match, the captain addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.

The squad responded for him, reinstating the smile to his countenance.

Different players performed with crucial roles. These are baby steps, certainly not enough to ensure long-term success, but something to build on.

In the end, this MCG win joins other notable performances in dead rubbers.

As the fans slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team assembled on the outfield to begin their own enjoyment.

Enjoy the drink, men. This victory was hard-fought.