The Beauty Of Boxing Day Test
“I wish I were like you man! But I am not..”, my neighbor screamed into my ears. I smiled. I knew he meant it as a compliment.
“If there is any other Australian batsman who scores a century today, I’d get up from my seat and applaud. But not if it is David Warner.”, he was very clear of his dislike for Warner. Most of our conversation the entire day would keep returning to Warner. One of the joys of watching live cricket in a stadium is to be able to strike up judgement free conversations with strangers who are not just fellow cricket fans but are passionate about the sport, the stats, and about certain players.
This Kiwi cricket fan who is now an Australian resident walked in with his cricket illiterate English friend and was explaining the game to him from the moment the first ball was bowled.
After we got introduced to each other, he looked at Warner trying to unsuccessfully place the ball beyond point and he let out an expletive. The teenage sister and brother Pakistani fans sitting in the row ahead of us turned back and laughed.
“Do you like Warner?”, he asked me.
“I don’t have a particular like or dislike for him..”
“Even after the sandpaper gate?”
“Sandpaper threw him in my bad books too. For sure. I am talking about now. I feel he has changed his means for the better a bit. At least in the last couple of years. So I am OK cheering for him. This is his farewell series afterall.”
“I wish I were like you man! But I am not..”, he screamed into my ears. I smiled. My son smiled.
“He threw Bancroft under the bus. He ruined his career. Remember that?”
“Hmm. Not sure about that. I think..it is a bit more complicated.”
“You know Bancroft is doing really well in the Sheffield Shield series. I hope he replaces Warner after he retires.”
So, the conversation went.
“I don’t know what Masood was thinking. Why did he choose to bowl first? I would have batted first.”, he said with confidence.
“Didn’t Cummins say he would have bowled first too had he won the toss? I mean, given the overcast conditions this morning, he was right in choosing to bowl first, I think. Perhaps there is a cloud of low confidence in Masood’s mind on his batters to face the fearsome Aussie pace attack in these conditions. Especially after what happened in the second innings in Perth. So..yeah..I would have bowled first too.”, I replied with the same confidence.
Fortunately, neither my neighbor on the Shane Warne stand nor I had to make that crucial decision on this special day.
The first day of the Boxing Day Test match at MCG (The ‘G).
The second test match of the Australia — Pakistan 2023–24 test series.
If you ask any cricket fan, the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is the match of the year, the one where if you’re not watching at the ground in person, you’re glued to the TV all day.
The start of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne represents the start of one of the finest traditions in the sport’s long history. There may be other traditions like the wearing of Baggy Green (and awarding of one) or the Lord’s Bell to name a couple from the top of my head, but there is no other test match on the calendar that is special like this one. And the day after Christmas at MCG is a custom that not only the Australian cricket fans hold dear, but cricket fans all around the world hold it dear too.
Something, I, growing up 87000 kilometers away, knew a thing or two about since my teenage years. Long before I learned what Boxing Day actually meant.
When I walked into MCG this morning taking the sights and sounds in, I had a quick imaginary conversation with my teenage self. A small town teenage boy who had no idea that one day he would get an opportunity to watch this match live and check for himself how much of his imagination created through the fine words of Bill Lawry and Richie Benaud would match up with reality.
I would be lying if I said I was not emotional at the first sight of the stadium inside. I was enveloped by a sense of nostalgia and reverence. It was a very special day for me as a cricket fan and I write this post with fully knowing that it has been a privilege to be able to finally travel to Australia during this time of the year to experience this test match — the same year, when I also was able to travel to England to watch the WTC final at The Oval.
The name, “Boxing Day Test” may conjure images of a single day’s event, neatly wrapped up from morning till night. However, the Boxing Day Test at the MCG is much more than that — it often marks just the beginning of something. Sometimes it could be something big. For example, the 2021 Boxing Day Test featured the late-career arrival of Australian fast bowler Scott Boland, who claimed the wickets of six befuddled Englishmen for a miserly seven runs. The match was all over before lunch on the third day — a problem for broadcasters, who’d budgeted five days for what was meant to be a stirring contest. In 2022, South Africa surrendered to the Australians rather meekly at MCG. All leading to Australia eventually winning the WTC Championship.
We don’t know what is in store for Pakistan in this test match and what Pakistan has come prepared to do differently.
For some, going to the ‘G is an annual ritual and possibly the only cricket they will witness until next year. Others will see more of a dining-room than the game which could be unfortunate if the first day’s play turns out to be exciting.
But more often than not though, the most drama in a test match comes at the end. And Boxing Day Test is no exception.
The final day of the 1982 Boxing Day Test began with England needing a solitary wicket for victory. Admittance to the ’G was free, as the game could have been over in one ball.
Australia, meanwhile, required 37 more runs — a tall order, given that one of the batsmen, Jeff Thomson, was a bowler. But Thommo, partnered by batting barnacle Allan Border, hung on. The number of runs required diminished in inverse proportion to the Englishmen’s pulse rate.
With a mere three runs to get — one boundary was all needed for a miraculous triumph for the home team, Thommo got out. He swung one last swish of his bat. The ball flew to an English fielder, who actually dropped it, but the ball was then snatched by another fielder. Talk about even the denouement being so dramatic for this Boxing Day Test.
This is all to say that this test is an event: an occasion; a seasonal rite loosely dating back to 1950, when the game (against England) actually started on December 22 and included a two-day break for Christmas. December 26 was not the first day but the third day’s play. Boxing Day Tests were played on and off only four times since then. So, this modern tradition of starting a Boxing Day Test match on Dec 26 has been relatively new. It really only became a thing in the 1980s.
These days, Boxing Day Test fixture does not need to worry about competition for attention domestically. Except with Big Bash League, which thankfully is played in the evenings. Politicians have fled parliaments and are on a hiatus, offices and schools are closed. And from what I have learned in my short stay so far in Australia is that not everyone is obsessed about great deals at Boxing Day sales when one can do much of that online. There is plenty of time for endless discussion about weather, team selections and — most importantly — the pitch.
Speaking of weather, my neighbor remarked.
“I call BS on the rain forecast today. This is not England. The pitch is not going to be terrible. Pakistan should have batted first. It is not going to rain much.”
For all the wise words spoken and written in the lead-up to this contest, the truth is that nobody really knows anything. Until the first delivery was sent down, it was all speculation and background noise.
The atmosphere inside MCG was nothing short of electric as the crowd, a mosaic of colors and fervor, lent their voices to the anticipation that hung thick in the Melbourne air. Thicker than the dark clouds that someone said would loom large later in the day. The MCG, with its towering stands holding iconic names, was a living, breathing entity, pulsating with the heartbeat of cricket. The collective roar of the crowd, the national anthems, the traditional aboriginal welcome ceremony, and the ceremonial toss marked the beginning of this cricketing tradition.
I tried to soak in every minute. The cheers, the boos, the heckling — the whole nine yards.
“Hey, Warner!! You should get out now!”, my neighbor was yelling again. He was either hungry or he had had enough of Warner sighting.
A few balls later, Warner did get out. Australia lost their first wicket after Warner and Khawaja managed to defensively carry them to 90/0. It was the last over before lunch. On the penultimate ball of that over, Warner lazily swatted at a wide delivery from Pakistan spinner Salman Ali Agha, edging the ball with no footwork through to Babar Azam at first slip.
“Did I really do it? Did I do it? Did I get Warner out?”, he was amused.
“Yeah, man. You did it. Although there is no way he could have heard you.”, I replied.
And both of us laughed. He may have been right about getting Warner out. Or not. But he was wrong about the rain. We did get some rain after about an hour’s play post-lunch, which paused the proceedings briefly. But all was not lost. The match resumed after an extended break and with the sun embracing the ground with his warm hands for a few more hours, there was enough cricket played on Day 1 to give the fan in me plenty of satisfaction.
At the very least, let us hope that play on Boxing Day is followed by one more day, then another and — wouldn’t it be lovely? — a couple more? I mean, this is what test cricket match fans long for. Don’t they? If the match doesn’t last that long, well, for both broadcasters and the MCG curator it will represent a stern test of character.
“I find watching test cricket meditative. My English friend here is not quite appreciative of that. What do you think?”
“I told you earlier that I traveled to England this summer to watch the WTC final. And I am here now. You should have known by now what I’d think.”
