About the 2012 Boxing Day Test
The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match hosted in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia involving the Australian cricket team and the opposition national team touring Australia that summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day (26 December), and is played at the MCG.
With the excitement and exhaustion of Christmas Day over, the Boxing Day Test is one of Australia’s most popular sporting events. Reasons for this go well beyond the fact that cricket in Melbourne, and indeed Australia, attracts loyal supporters.
In 1950 the first ever Australian Boxing Day Test was hosted at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Prior to that, Boxing Day at the MCG had been the domain of Sheffield Shield cricket, often the highly popular Victoria-New South Wales encounters.
No Boxing Day Tests were played in Melbourne between 1953 and 1967, and periodically the Australian Cricket Team played on Boxing Day in other nations.
However in 1980 the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Australian cricket team secured the rights to play the match annually.
The popularity of the Boxing Day Test also has something to do with Australia’s relaxed outdoor lifestyle, which sees sports lovers appreciate a fine summer’s day spent with friends watching sporting greats battle it out on a well-manicured field.
Many famous events have happened during the Boxing Day Test, including umpire Darrell Hair calling Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in 1995 and Shane Warne taking his 700th Test wicket in 2006 against England in his final MCG Test.
Location & Contact
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Brunton Avenue
Richmond VIC 3002
Australia
(03) 9657 8888
Official Webpage & 2012/2013 Dates
www.mcg.org.au/History/Cricket/Boxing%20Day%20Test.aspx
MCG Tickets: Tickets to all events at the MCG are sold through Ticketek , the contracted ticketing agent for the stadium.
