They came, they saw, and Test cricket conquered these last five days at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the same site where people first came to watch such a match nearly a century and a half ago. Every generation in that time has wondered whether a game unfolding so gradually, that is such a resister of compression and hive of inactivity, can survive in its original form. Just a fortnight ago, soi-disant ‘experts’ were arguing that Test matches had to be shrunk to four days, chiefly to make way for gaudier entertainments. That would have deprived more than seventy-four thousand fans, part of a five-day total of 373,531, of their fun today. Overnight, of course, South Africa progressed to the World Test Championship final by beating Pakistan in front of thinly-populated terraces, so perhaps the narcs and straighteners will eventually be vindicated. But let’s enjoy their silence, however temporary.
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