Displayed inside a showcase on the elevated floor of the MCG sits a electric pink suit worn by the pop star. The performance in front of a hundred thousand fans was considered a major hit.
Perhaps you don't enjoy his music. You might think he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. You might take a middle ground, acknowledging that some songs are fantastic while others are awful.
The key argument is that amusement can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no one way to produce art or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the outcome is so dependent on the environment.
The weather, the hour of play, the ball – the variables are numerous. Crucially is the pitch.
If the long game is a form of art, the strip is the foundation on which the athletes craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The Boxing Day fixture between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the great game taken to pieces and reassembled in a bizarre shape.
This is not a justification of the pitch which resulted in a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Allowing excessive grass on the surface, causing 36 wickets tumbling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between bat and ball.
A Rich Tapestry: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is incorrect.
The format is a varied portfolio, over two thousand matches and still growing. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the seamers. Other times, it grips and turns on a spinning track. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it bounces unevenly.
The thrillers are particularly captivating owing to the patience devoted in other matches.
Problem Solving: The True Test
Certain variables are accepted more readily than others.
The contention in Melbourne was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the best players were prevented from showcasing their talents.
This level of cricket is about finding solutions – assessing the situation and adapting accordingly. The best individual innings were made by world-class batters. One side was less disciplined than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited
Go and inform the supporters who have endured 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
Among the crowd of the stadium, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a heartland of sport.
There was optimism as the bowlers dominated, impetus when the top order responded, and rapturous celebration when the result was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches
The Melbourne has a history with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a strip with all the life of a pulled Christmas cracker.
That fixture was a slog, with limited drama and endless boredom. The two-day game and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the range – neither the standard, yet significance can be found in both.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.
"Far from being the end of the format at all," said a veteran. "The people who have been privileged to see these short time have been treated to some genuine drama. A unique show."
Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope
In the build-up to this match, the leader addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his mind.
The players responded for him, bringing back the smile to his persona.
Different players performed with key contributions. These are baby steps, hardly enough to guarantee long-term success, but a foundation to use as a platform.
In the end, this Melbourne victory is added to other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the supporters left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players congregated on the outfield to start their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, men. You've earned this one.
