<\/p>\n
In a glass case on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a neon pink suit worn by Robbie Williams for his show at the 2022 AFL grand final.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Robster’s performance in front of 100,024 footy fans was seen as a triumph.<\/p>\n
You might not like Robbie Williams. You might think Robbie Williams is the greatest gift to music the world has ever seen. You might take a reasonable stance in the middle, acknowledging Kids is a belting track and Rudebox is awful.<\/p>\n
The point being, entertainment can take many forms. You like what you like. There is no one way to produce music, literature or even Test cricket.<\/p>\n
Test cricket has unrivalled depth. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on conditions.<\/p>\n
The weather, the time of day, the ball \u2013 the list is endless. Most important of all is the pitch.<\/p>\n
If Test cricket is art, the pitch is the canvas on which the players paint their masterpiece.<\/p>\n
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England at the MCG was Test cricket cubism, the great game broken apart and stuck back together in abstract form, with a hint of Brydon Carse batting at number three.<\/p>\n
This is not a defence of the pitch which produced England’s first Test win in this country for almost 15 years and the second two-day Test of the series.<\/p>\n
Leaving 10mm of grass on the surface, resulting in 36 wickets falling in less than six sessions, is not a fair contest between bat and ball. Not so much the Boxing Day Test, but the Boxing Days Test.<\/p>\n
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, and one that should historically be marked with an asterisk as not a proper Test, is wide of the mark.<\/p>\n
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and counting. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the ball does all sorts for the seamers, sometimes it turns square on a dust bowl. Sometimes the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra. Some matches drag on in interminable tedium, others are over in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n
This is the understanding we all buy into when we devote time to the game. The thrillers are all the more thrilling because of the investment made elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Stephan #Shemilt #Ashes #column #MCGs #twodayer #Test<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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