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Who cares if it wasn't pretty, Australia actually won a Test

29th November, 2016
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Matt Renshaw at the crease for Australia. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
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29th November, 2016
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Well that was a bit more like it.

After the pitiful performance in Perth and the horrendous effort that supposedly constituted a performance in Hobart, Australia decided that their presence in the series might not be such a bad thing after all.

Admittedly, the horse had well and truly bolted but, well, you really can’t have everything.

But what all the Australian cricketing faithful do have is a team who finally got themselves back on the winning podium and can look forward to the tryst with Pakistan, especially given their forthcoming opponents’ defeat in New Zealand, with confidence levels on the rise.

The answer can’t be said to have been found by any means, and I fear for them in India in a few months’ time, but small steps nearly always precede a break into a jog and they have been taken.

Of the debutants, Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb certainly didn’t look out of place and perhaps judgement should be reserved on Nic Maddison given just the one outing (apologies Callum Ferguson if you’re reading).

And after all the brickbats being thrown his way, and his form was starting to be a cause for considerable concern, it was good to see Nathan Lyon having an impact as opposed to being treated with disdain.

So, in the heavily clichéd words of nearly every sportsman in every sport who has the job of conducting a post-match interview, there are positives that can be taken.

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The biggest of these shouldn’t be the calm assurance of Renshaw or the shot-making talent of Hanscomb. Nor should it be the continued good form of Josh Hazlewood or Usman Khawaja’s sparkling century.

Australia's batsman Usman Khawaja celebrates his first Test century

In very simple terms it is the outcome – a victory.

How it was achieved is by and large irrelevant and who did what is pretty much the same.

As far as Test match performances go it was efficient, it was clinical – everything that had been lacking previously – and was fitting for the situation.

That brings me to the whole point of this article and the conundrum that has enveloped cricket in recent times.

Do people want to be entertained or do they want to see their team win? Of course, the two can go hand in hand but not as regularly as most would like to hope.

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A rhetorical question of sorts and if the sporting world was perfect every fan’s team of choice would rack up the wins while flaying boundaries left, right and centre and taking wickets for fun.

But it isn’t and what has just been described happens far less often than the opposite.

Hearing Renshaw’s batting in the second innings criticised provided a microcosm of the entertainment versus success argument.

What the Queenslander did was what he should have done – he got his head down and made sure his side came out on top. He didn’t score at a particularly quick rate, but who cares? I would bet my bottom dollar that neither he nor his colleagues did.

It is professional sport and how many times have you heard the phrase ‘it’s a results business’ uttered when a team or coach are under pressure?

Individuals’ livelihoods depend, in the vast majority of cases, on the result and not how it’s achieved. Play as many shots as you want but unless your superiors are very patient, your time is limited if the end results are consistently negative.

Win matches and series in ungainly or attritional style and the reward won’t be the opportunity to visit the job centre but an enhanced contract and the chance to keep doing it.

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Even in the 20-over format, which was crafted for nothing more than entertainment, what number is put in the win column usurps any scoring rate or boundary ratio you can think of. When you add to the equation the sums of money that are flying about, it only becomes more so.

There is a balance out there somewhere to be found and occasionally it will materialise but seeking nirvana only leads to frustration and annoyance.

Do you want to watch a team that entertains or one that wins?

There’s no need to answer.

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