Within a showcase on the upper level of the MCG sits a electric pink suit performed in by the pop star. The performance in front of a massive crowd of spectators was hailed as a success.
It's possible you enjoy the performer. You might think he is the finest offering to music in history. Or you could adopt a middle ground, conceding that some tracks are belting while others are awful.
The key argument is that amusement can take many forms. Preferences differ. There is no universal formula to produce art or even the longest format.
The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket
The five-day game boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dependent on external factors.
The weather, the time of day, the red ball – the list is endless. Above all is the playing surface.
If the format is art, the pitch is the blank slate on which the players create their art.
An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test
The fourth Ashes Test between the old rivals was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport dismantled and reconstructed in a bizarre shape.
Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the another short match of the contest.
Having excessive grass on the pitch, leading to 36 wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, over two thousand matches and still growing. On occasion, like in Melbourne, the ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. Sometimes, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are even more exciting due to the time committed elsewhere.
Problem Solving: The Real Challenge
Specific conditions are embraced more freely than others.
The contention in at the MCG was that the contest was weighted unfairly towards the bowlers. That the skilled individuals were prevented from demonstrating their skill.
This level of cricket is about problem solving – assessing the wicket and responding accordingly. The two highest individual innings were made by acknowledged players. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus were defeated.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the devotees who have experienced a long drought that this lacked spectacle.
In one section of the ground, a sea of people celebrated and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a heartland of national pride.
There was hope as the bowlers excelled, momentum when the top order fought back, and pure joy when the result was confirmed.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with pitch problems. Previously, a Test there featured a pitch with all the life of a a non-event.
That match was a slog, with minimal action and slow play. This recent match and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the scale – both are not perfect, yet historical weight can be attached to them.
Four Tests into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"It's not the death of the long game at all," said a past champion. "The people who have been privileged to see these two days have been given some genuine drama. A unique show."
Small Victories: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this match, the skipper spoke like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.
The players protected him, restoring the joy to his persona.
Emerging talents stepped up with vital performances. These are small positives, not nearly enough to ensure long-term futures, but a starting point to develop from.
In the end, this Melbourne victory takes its place among other notable performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans slipped away into a stunning sunset, the players assembled on the turf to commence their own celebrations.
Celebrate the win, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
