'Are You Not Entertained?' The Reason a Two-Day Match Deserved Its Status as a Genuine Test Match.

Displayed inside a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a vibrant pink outfit donned by the entertainer. His concert in front of 100,024 fans was hailed as a triumph.

It's possible you appreciate Robbie Williams. You might think he is the ultimate present to music known to man. Or you could adopt a reasonable stance, conceding that some hits are fantastic while others are poor.

The point being is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to produce literature or even five-day cricket.

The Peerless Spectrum of The Test Format

The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so reliant upon the environment.

The weather, the session, the ball – the list is endless. Most important is the pitch.

If the format is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the canvas on which the players paint their masterpiece.

A Test of Cubism: The Fourth Test

The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the great game taken to pieces and stuck back together in an unusual manner.

This is not a justification of the surface which yielded a triumph and the another short match of the series.

Having a thick layer on the pitch, resulting in numerous dismissals being taken in less than six sessions, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.

A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket

But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be marked with an asterisk as illegitimate, is wide of the mark.

Test cricket is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and counting. At times, like in Melbourne, the ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it turns square on a dry surface. Sometimes, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.

The thrillers are all the more thrilling owing to the patience devoted elsewhere.

Adaptation: The Core Skill

Specific conditions are tolerated more freely than others.

The argument in during the match was that the balance was tipped too far towards the fielding side. That the best players were unable from playing their natural game.

Test cricket is about finding solutions – reading the conditions and adapting accordingly. The best individual scores were made by world-class stars. One side made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.

Sheer Celebration: The Supporters' View

Try telling the devotees who have endured 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.

In a corner of the ground, countless fans made noise and sang their songs, generating a festive mood in a heartland of Australian cricket.

There was belief as the bowlers surged, advantage when players responded, and unconditional love when the victory was achieved.

Contrasting Examples: The Variety of Test Matches

The venue has form with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a wicket with the character of a a non-event.

That match was a slog, with few wickets and slow play. This recent match and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the scale – neither perfect, yet value can be found in both.

Four Tests into the Ashes contest, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the collective consciousness.

"Far from being the demise of Test cricket at all," commented a former player. "The people who have been privileged to see these short time have been given some fantastic sport. Different entertainment."

Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope

In the lead-in to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his mind.

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

Different players delivered with key contributions. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to secure long-term futures, but a starting point to build on.

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

As the crowd departed into a stunning sunset, the team assembled on the outfield to commence their own enjoyment.

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