Displayed inside a showcase on the upper level of the MCG sits a neon pink suit worn by the pop star. His concert in front of 100,024 spectators was seen as a success.
It's possible you like the performer. Maybe you feel he is the finest offering to music known to man. Alternatively, you may hold a reasonable stance, conceding that some hits are belting while others are awful.
The key argument is that entertainment can be delivered diversely. You like what you like. There is no universal formula to craft literature or even Test cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Test Format
Test cricket boasts incomparable variety. It's difficult to think of another sport where the playing is so dictated by external factors.
The climate, the session, the cricket ball – the factors are countless. Above all is the wicket.
If the long game is a form of art, the strip is the canvas on which the cricketers paint their masterpiece.
A Broken-Down Battle: The MCG Match
The Boxing Day fixture between Australia and England was Test cricket cubism, the traditional sport broken apart and stuck back together in an unusual manner.
This is not a justification of the pitch which yielded a triumph and the another sub-three-day finish of the Ashes battle.
Allowing 10mm of grass on the pitch, leading to numerous dismissals being taken in less than a brief period, is not an even battle between batter and bowler.
A Varied History: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any suggestion this was a diminished spectacle, one that should be footnoted as inauthentic, is wide of the mark.
The long game is a diverse canvas, 2,615 parts and ongoing. On occasion, as witnessed recently, the cricket ball does all sorts for the pace bowlers. Other times, it turns square on a dry surface. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are all the more thrilling due to the time committed in other matches.
Adaptation: The Core Skill
Specific conditions are accepted more freely than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the balance was skewed excessively towards the bowlers. That the top batters were hindered from demonstrating their skill.
The format is about problem solving – assessing the situation and adapting accordingly. The top two individual innings were made by world-class batters. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus ended up second best.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the fans who have experienced 18 winless matches that this wasn't compelling.
In one section of the stadium, countless fans made noise and created an atmosphere, fostering a carnival vibe in a bastion of sport.
There was hope as the attack dominated, impetus when players responded, and pure joy when the win was achieved.
Polar Opposites: The Range of Test Matches
The MCG has a history with pitch problems. In the past, a match there featured a wicket with the excitement of a a damp squib.
That fixture was a grind, with limited drama and slow play. The latest encounter and that slow Test are polar opposites of the spectrum – one is not more perfect, yet significance can be attached to both.
Deep into the series into the current series, it is the shortest games that will be most remembered in the collective consciousness.
"Far from being the demise of Test cricket at all," said a former player. "Fans who have been privileged to see these 48 hours have been given some real entertainment. Different entertainment."
Small Victories: A Glimmer of Hope
In the build-up to this Test, the captain talked like a man carrying the weight of the world on his back.
The team protected him, bringing back the joy to his face.
Emerging talents delivered with vital performances. These are baby steps, not nearly enough to guarantee long-term success, but something to use as a platform.
At the very least, this triumph joins other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the crowd departed into a beautiful night, the players assembled on the turf to start their own enjoyment.
Savour the moment, boys. This victory was hard-fought.
