'Are You Not Entertained?' Why a 48-Hour Fixture Remained Every Bit a Authentic Cricket Test.

Within a showcase on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground rests a neon pink ensemble performed in by the entertainer. The performance in front of a massive crowd of attendees was considered a triumph.

You might not like his music. Maybe you feel he is the ultimate present to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, conceding that some tracks are fantastic while others are awful.

The point being is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to craft music or even Test cricket.

The Peerless Spectrum of The Long Game

The traditional format boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dependent on external factors.

The climate, the time of day, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the playing surface.

If the format is art, the wicket is the foundation on which the athletes craft their legacy.

A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle

The fourth Ashes Test between the old rivals was an abstract version of cricket, the established format taken to pieces and reassembled in a bizarre shape.

Let's be clear, this isn't a endorsement of the surface which yielded a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.

Leaving excessive grass on the surface, leading to 36 wickets tumbling in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between offense and defense.

A Rich Tapestry: The Nature of Test Cricket

But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as inauthentic, is mistaken.

Test cricket is a varied portfolio, a long history and counting. Sometimes, like in Melbourne, the ball behaves unpredictably for the pace bowlers. Other times, it spins sharply on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is unresponsive, other times it spits like a cobra.

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

Adjustment: The Real Challenge

Some factors are tolerated more readily than others.

The argument in at the MCG was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the fielding side. That the best players were prevented from demonstrating their skill.

Test cricket is about adapting to challenges – reading the wicket and adapting effectively. The two highest individual innings were made by world-class batters. One line-up made more mistakes than the other, and thus ended up second best.

Sheer Celebration: The Fan Perspective

Go and inform the supporters who have suffered 18 winless matches that this lacked spectacle.

Among the crowd of the stadium, countless fans made noise and sang their songs, generating a party atmosphere in a stronghold of national pride.

There was belief as the bowlers surged, impetus when batters fought back, and rapturous celebration when the result was secured.

Extreme Ends: The Range of Test Matches

The Melbourne has a history with difficult wickets. Eight years ago, a Test there featured a strip with the excitement of a a damp squib.

That contest was a slog, with minimal action and endless boredom. The two-day game and that drawn affair are diametrically opposed points of the range – one is not more the standard, yet significance can be found in both.

Four Tests into the current series, it is the shortest games that will live longest in the memory.

"Far from being the end of Test cricket at all," observed a veteran. "The people who have been lucky enough to see these short time have been experienced some genuine drama. Different entertainment."

Small Victories: A Glimmer of Hope

In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper addressed the media like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

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

Different players delivered with key contributions. These are incremental gains, not nearly enough to ensure long-term stability, but something to develop from.

At the very least, this triumph is added to other notable performances in meaningless games.

As the supporters left into a stunning sunset, the team gathered on the field to commence their own enjoyment.

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