Stephan Shemilt Ashes column: Why MCG’s two-dayer was no less of a Test
In a glass case on the third floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a neon pink suit worn by Robbie Williams for his display in the 2022 AFL grand final.
Robster’s performance in front of 100,024 football fans was seen as a triumph.
You may not like Robbie Williams. You might think that Robbie Williams is the greatest musical gift the world has ever seen. You can take a reasonable stance in the middle and admit that Kids is a very challenging game and Rudebox sucks.
The important thing is that entertainment can take many forms. You love what you love. There is no single way to produce music, literature or even Test cricket.
Test cricket has unrivaled depth. It’s hard to think of another sport where playing is so dependent on conditions.
Weather, time of day, prom; the list is endless. The most important thing is the field.
If Test cricket is art, the field is the canvas on which players paint their masterpieces.
The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England at the MCG was Test cricket cubism; the big play disintegrated and reassembled intangibly, there was a hint of Brydon Carse on third down.
This is not the defense of the pitch that secured England’s first Test win in this country for almost 15 years and the second two-day Test of the series.
Leaving 10mm of turf on the surface resulting in 36 wickets falling in less than six sessions is not a fair competition between bat and ball. Not the Boxing Day Test, but the Boxing Day Test.
But any suggestion that this should be marked with an asterisk because it was a scaled-back spectacle and not a historically appropriate Test is way off the mark.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry of 2,615 pieces and counting. Sometimes, as in Melbourne, the ball does everything for the seamers, sometimes it spins square on the dust bowl. Sometimes the pitch is flat as a pancake, sometimes it spits like a cobra. Some matches continue with endless boredom, while others are over in the blink of an eye.
This is the mindset we all embrace when we make time for play. Thrillers are even more exciting because of investments elsewhere.
