 "General view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the venue that traditionally hosts the 'Boxing Day Test' in the Australian summer of cricket. Reuters")
The five-game Test series between Australia and India has been nothing short of action-packed so far. From individual and collective brilliance to controversies, the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy has had it all so far. While India had won the opening Test in Perth by 295 runs, ending Australia’s unbeaten run at the Optus Stadium in dominant fashion, the Pat Cummins-led Aussies bounced back in style with a 10-wicket victory in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
Australia appeared set to go 2-1 up in the series at The Gabba in Brisbane when erratic weather coupled with a brave fightback from KL Rahul and the Indian lower order ensured the series remained level at 1-1 with two more games to play .
The action now shifts to Melbourne, where the ‘Boxing Day Test’ gets underway a couple of days from now.
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More ShortsWhat is the ‘Boxing Day Test’?
Simply put, the tradition of hosting a game of Test cricket on ‘Boxing Day’ – the day after Christmas, i.e. 26 December – is called a ‘Boxing Day Test’. The term ‘Boxing Day’ originates from the Victorian custom of the rich presenting gift boxes to their servants the day after Christmas. The tradition, however, would soon spread to all classes of society and the day after ‘Xmas’ became a day to distribute gifts among loved ones.
Cricket isn’t the only sport that has Boxing Day fixtures though, with the footballers in the Premier League – the top club football division in England – returning to action the very next day after celebrating an off on Christmas.
Is the tradition of a ‘Boxing Day Test’ followed in other countries as well?
The tradition of ‘Boxing Day Tests’ is generally followed in the southern hemisphere, primarily in nations such as South Africa and New Zealand besides Australia.
South Africa used to host the ‘Boxing Day Test’ in Johannesburg (Old Wanderers, Ellis Park and the Wanderers Stadium) between 1913 and 1966. Gqeberha’s St George’s Park hosted the first ‘Boxing Day Test’ after readmission in 1992 and would share hosting duties with Durban’s Kingsmead for the next 25 years, the latter getting the majority of fixtures. Since 2018, the South African ‘Boxing Day Tests’ have been taking place at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
New Zealand, meanwhile, had first hosted a ‘Boxing Day Test’ at the Basin Reserve in Wellington in 1998 against the visiting Indian team and would continue the tradition annually till 2003, with the exception of the 2002 season. New Zealand Cricket, however, were not quite able to host the ‘Boxing Day Test’ as regularly as Australia and South Africa were, and did not host one for more than a decade until the Hagley Oval in Christchurch got the honours in 2014.
The last two ‘Boxing Day Tests’ taking place in New Zealand were in 2018 and 2020 – at Christchurch and at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui respectively.
What is India’s record when it comes to ‘Boxing Day Tests’ Down Under?
India have emerged victorious in the ‘Boxing Day Test’ in each of their last two tours of Australia, both of which they had won by identical 2-1 margins.
Here’s how India have fared in ‘Boxing Day Tests’ in Australia:
Matches: 9
India won: 2
Australia won: 5
Drawn: 2