'Was That Not a Show?' Why a Two-Day Match Deserved Its Status as a Genuine Test Match.

Within a display cabinet on the upper level of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a electric pink outfit donned by the entertainer. His performance in front of a massive crowd of spectators was considered a success.

You might not like Robbie Williams. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music in history. Or you could adopt a balanced view, admitting that some songs are belting while others are terrible.

The point being is that amusement can manifest in countless ways. You like what you like. There is not a single method to create art or even Test cricket.

The Unrivalled Depth of Test Cricket

The five-day game boasts incomparable variety. One struggles to think of another sport where the outcome is so dictated by the environment.

The climate, the time of day, the red ball – the factors are countless. Most important is the playing surface.

If the long game is an artistic pursuit, the pitch is the canvas on which the players paint their masterpiece.

An Abstract Contest: The Fourth Test

The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport dismantled and reconstructed in abstract form.

Let's be clear, this isn't a defence of the surface which resulted in a triumph and the second two-day Test of the series.

Allowing 10mm of grass on the pitch, leading to a cascade of wickets falling in less than six sessions, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.

A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket

But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be footnoted as illegitimate, is wide of the mark.

Test cricket is a varied portfolio, a long history and counting. At times, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball moves excessively for the pace bowlers. In contrast, it grips and turns on a spinning track. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it bounces unevenly.

The exciting finishes are all the more thrilling due to the time committed elsewhere.

Adjustment: The True Test

Some factors are accepted more easily than others.

The argument in at the MCG was that the equilibrium was weighted unfairly towards the attack. That the best players were unable from demonstrating their skill.

The format is about finding solutions – reading the wicket and adapting appropriately. The top two individual scores were made by acknowledged players. One side committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.

Unbridled Joy: For Those Who Waited

Try telling the devotees who have suffered years of defeat that this lacked spectacle.

Among the crowd of the stadium, thousands celebrated and sang their songs, producing a festive mood in a bastion of sport.

There was optimism as the bowlers excelled, momentum when the top order fought back, and rapturous celebration when the victory was confirmed.

Polar Opposites: The Spectrum of Test Matches

The venue has previous experience with pitch problems. Eight years ago, a match there featured a pitch with the character of a pulled Christmas cracker.

That match was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. The two-day game and that slow Test are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more perfect, yet value can be found in both.

Deep into the series into the current series, it is the two-day matches that will live longest in the memory.

"It's not the end of the long game at all," commented a veteran. "The people who have been privileged to see these short time have been experienced some fantastic sport. Different entertainment."

Small Victories: Building for the Future

In the preparation to this match, the leader talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The players delivered for him, reinstating the joy to his countenance.

New faces delivered with key contributions. These are baby steps, not nearly enough to secure long-term futures, but a starting point to build on.

Ultimately, this triumph takes its place among other historic performances in similar circumstances.

As the crowd left into a glorious Melbourne evening, the team congregated on the outfield to start their own festivities.

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