Boxing Day Test

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Others Template:Template other The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, involving the Australia national cricket team and an opposing national team that is touring Australia during the southern summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day (26 December) and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

History

File:Boxingaday.jpg

Cricket crowd at the Boxing Day Test in 2007

By long tradition, a Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and New South Wales had been played at the MCG over the Christmas period dating back as far as 1865. It included Boxing Day as one of the scheduled days of play, much to the chagrin of the NSW players who missed spending Christmas with their families as a result. The Melbourne Test was usually held over the New Year period, often starting on 1 January.

During the 1950–51 Ashes series, the Melbourne Test was played from 22 to 27 December, with the fourth day's play being on Boxing Day, but no Test matches were played on Boxing Day in Melbourne between 1953 and 1967. Because there were six Tests in the 1974–75 Ashes series, in order to fit them all in to the overall schedule, the Third Test at Melbourne was scheduled to start on Boxing Day.

That was the origin of the modern tradition, although it was not until 1980 that it was formalised by the Australian Cricket Board, alongside the recent acquisition of its television rights by the Nine Network, and Melbourne emphasising its hosting of major sporting events (such as the AFL Grand Final and Australian Open) to offset the decline of its manufacturing industry.

The Boxing Day Test has cultural significance and often draws large crowds, although increased competition from Twenty20 fixtures in the Big Bash League has led to variances in attendance; the MCG hosted its largest Boxing Day crowd in 2013, the fourth Test of the 2013–14 Ashes series against England.

Individual awards

Since 1975, there has been an official Player of the Match named in each Boxing Day Test. Since 2020, the man of the match has received the Mullagh Medal, named in honour of Indigenous Australian cricketer Johnny Mullagh.

File:Boxing Day Test 2024 panorama full.jpg

A panorama of the MCG for day one of the 2024 Boxing Day Test.

List of Boxing Day Test matches

Year	Opposition team	Result	Boxing Day Crowd	Total Attendance	Player of the Match: Mullagh Medal
1968	West Indies	Australia won by an innings and 30 runs	18,766	113,376
1974	England	Draw	77,167	250,750
1975	West Indies	Australia won by 8 wickets	85,661	222,755	Template:Flagicon Jeff Thomson
1980	New Zealand	Draw	28,671	82,745	Template:Flagicon Richard Hadlee
1981	West Indies	Australia won by 58 runs	39,982	134,081	Template:Flagicon Kim Hughes
1982	England	England won by 3 runs	63,900	214,882	Template:Flagicon Norman Cowans
1983	Pakistan	Draw	40,277	111,611	Template:Flagicon Graham Yallop
1985	India	Draw	18,146	77,715	Template:Flagicon Allan Border
1986	England	England won by an innings and 14 runs	58,203	107,817	Template:Flagicon Gladstone Small
1987	New Zealand	Draw	51,807	127,184	Template:Flagicon Richard Hadlee
1990	England	Australia won by 9 wickets	49,763	129,530	Template:Flagicon Bruce Reid
1991	India	Australia won by 8 wickets	42,494	89,369	Template:Flagicon Bruce Reid
1992	West Indies	Australia won by 139 runs	28,397	83,320	Template:Flagicon Shane Warne
1993	South Africa	Draw	15,604Template:Efn	48,565	Template:Flagicon Mark Taylor
1995	Sri Lanka	Australia won by 10 wickets	55,239	105,388	Template:Flagicon Glenn McGrath
1996	West Indies	West Indies won by 6 wickets	72,891	131,671	Template:Flagicon Curtly Ambrose
1997	South Africa	Draw	73,812	160,182	Template:Flagicon Jacques Kallis
1998	England	England won by 12 runs	61,580	159,031	Template:Flagicon Dean Headley
1999	India	Australia won by 180 runs	49,082Template:Efn	134,554	Template:Flagicon Sachin Tendulkar
2000	West Indies	Australia won by 352 runs	73,233	133,299	Template:Flagicon Steve Waugh
2001	South Africa	Australia won by 9 wickets	61,796	153,025	Template:Flagicon Matthew Hayden
2002	England	Australia won by 5 wickets	64,189Template:Efn	177,658	Template:Flagicon Justin Langer
2003	India	Australia won by 9 wickets	62,613Template:Efn	179,662	Template:Flagicon Ricky Ponting
2004	Pakistan	Australia won by 9 wickets	61,552Template:Efn	129,079	Template:Flagicon Damien Martyn
2005	South Africa	Australia won by 184 runs	71,910Template:Efn	192,338	Template:Flagicon Michael Hussey
2006	England	Australia won by an innings and 99 runs	89,155	244,351	Template:Flagicon Shane Warne
2007	India	Australia won by 337 runs	68,465	166,663	Template:Flagicon Matthew Hayden
2008	South Africa	South Africa won by 9 wickets	63,263	174,246	Template:Flagicon Dale Steyn
2009	Pakistan	Australia won by 170 runs	59,206	156,267	Template:Flagicon Shane Watson
2010	England	England won by an innings and 157 runs	84,345	240,156	Template:Flagicon Jonathan Trott
2011	India	Australia won by 122 runs	70,068	189,347	Template:Flagicon James Pattinson
2012	Sri Lanka	Australia won by an innings and 201 runs	67,138	137,455	Template:Flagicon Mitchell Johnson
2013	England	Australia won by 8 wickets	91,112	271,865	Template:Flagicon Mitchell Johnson
2014	India	Draw	69,993	194,481	Template:Flagicon Ryan Harris
2015	West Indies	Australia won by 177 runs	53,389	127,069	Template:Flagicon Nathan Lyon
2016	Pakistan	Australia won by an innings and 18 runs	63,478Template:Efn	142,188	Template:Flagicon Steve Smith
2017	England	Draw	88,173	261,335	Template:Flagicon Alastair Cook
2018	India	India won by 137 runs	73,516	176,539	Template:Flagicon Jasprit Bumrah
2019	New Zealand	Australia won by 247 runs	80,473	203,472	Template:Flagicon Travis Head
2020	India	India won by 8 wickets	27,615Template:Efn	89,472	Template:Flagicon Ajinkya Rahane
2021	England	Australia won by an innings and 14 runs	57,100	140,671	Template:Flagicon Scott Boland
2022	South Africa	Australia won by an innings and 182 runs	64,876	155,714	Template:Flagicon David Warner
2023	Pakistan	Australia won by 79 runs	62,167	164,835	Template:Flagicon Pat Cummins
2024	India	Australia won by 184 runs	87,242	373,691	Template:Flagicon Pat Cummins
2025	England
2026	New Zealand

• In 1989, instead of a Test match, a One Day International was held on 26 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between Australia and Sri Lanka. Australia won by 30 runs in front of a crowd of 45,012.

Overall Record — Australia vs Visitors

File:Beer cup stacking at the MCG.jpg

Beer cup snake during the 2021 Boxing Day Test

Opposition Team	GP	W	D	L	Win %	Recent Test
England	Boxing Day 2021
India	Boxing Day 2024
New Zealand	Boxing Day 2019
Pakistan	Boxing Day 2023
South Africa	Boxing Day 2022
Sri Lanka	Boxing Day 2012
West Indies	Boxing Day 2015
Total	Boxing Day 2024

See also

• Boxing Day Test (South Africa)
• Boxing Day Test (New Zealand)

External links

• History of MCG Boxing Day Tests
• Scoreboard: 1968 Boxing Day Test
• Scoreboard: 1974 Boxing Day Test
• Scoreboard: 1975 Boxing Day Test
• Scoreboard: 1980 Boxing Day Test