Boxing Day Test

The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, involving the Australian 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
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.

List of Boxing Day Test matches

 * 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.