'Are You Not Entertained?' Why a Two-Day Fixture Remained Every Bit a Genuine Test.

Within a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground is housed a neon pink outfit worn by the entertainer. His show in front of 100,024 attendees was considered a major hit.

It's possible you enjoy Robbie Williams. You might think he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. You might take a reasonable stance, conceding that some tracks are belting while others are awful.

The point being is that enjoyment can be delivered diversely. Tastes vary. There is not a single method to craft music or even the longest format.

The Incomparable Variety of Test Cricket

The five-day game boasts peerless complexity. It is hard to think of another sport where the playing is so dependent on the environment.

The elements, the session, the ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the pitch.

If Test cricket is art, the strip is the foundation on which the athletes create their art.

An Abstract Contest: The Melbourne Spectacle

The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was the game deconstructed, the traditional sport broken apart and stuck back together in a bizarre shape.

Let's be clear, this isn't a justification of the pitch which yielded a victory and the another sub-three-day finish of the series.

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

A Diverse Legacy: The Core of Test Cricket

But any notion this was a lesser event, one that should be marked with an asterisk as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.

Test cricket is a diverse canvas, a long history and counting. Sometimes, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball does all sorts for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a spinning track. At other venues, the pitch is dead, other times it spits like a cobra.

The exciting finishes are even more exciting due to the investment committed elsewhere.

Problem Solving: The True Test

Specific conditions are embraced more easily than others.

The argument in Melbourne was that the contest was skewed excessively towards the attack. That the top batters were prevented from playing their natural game.

Test cricket is about problem solving – reading the situation and adapting accordingly. The two highest individual contributions were made by world-class players. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.

Sheer Celebration: For Those Who Waited

Go and inform the devotees who have suffered a long drought that this was not entertaining.

In a corner of the MCG, countless fans made noise and created an atmosphere, generating a festive mood in a heartland of sport.

There was hope as the attack surged, advantage when batters fought back, and pure joy when the result was confirmed.

Polar Opposites: The Variety of Test Matches

The Melbourne has previous experience with pitch problems. Previously, a match there featured a pitch with the excitement of a pulled Christmas cracker.

That match was a grind, with few wickets and endless boredom. The two-day game and that previous match are extreme ends of the spectrum – one is not more the standard, yet historical weight can be ascribed to them.

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

"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," said a former player. "Fans who have been fortunate to see these short time have been treated to some genuine drama. A unique show."

Signs of Progress: A Glimmer of Hope

In the lead-in to this Test, the skipper talked like a man carrying the enormous pressure on his back.

The team responded for him, bringing back the smile to his face.

New faces stepped up with crucial roles. These are baby steps, certainly not enough to guarantee long-term futures, but something to build on.

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

As the fans slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players gathered on the turf to commence their own enjoyment.

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