The 2023 Boxing Day Test
The Boxing Day Test is an annual cricket competition between Australia’s cricket team and a national team that is touring Australia during their summer. The match starts on December 26 — aka Boxing Day — and runs for five days. Hosted at Australia’s Melbourne Cricket Ground, the 2023 match was against Pakistan’s cricket team. Australia’s team consisted of Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, and David Warner. On Pakistan’s team was Shaheen Afridi, Salman Ali Agha, Hassan Ali, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Aamir Jamal, Sajid Khan, Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan, Abdullah Shafique, Saud Shakeel, and Imam-ul-Haq. Australia won by 79 runs and the Mullagh Medal — awarded to the player of the match — went to Australian player Pat Cummins. The 2024 match will be between Australia and India.
If you are unfamiliar with the sport, cricket is a game played with two teams of eleven players. Each team has a wicket — two balls balanced on three stumps — to stop from being knocked over, and they take turns switching between the defending and batting sides. Runs are gained by the batters by striking the ball on the wicket and then running back and forth between each team’s wickets. Cricket is commonly played in England and former British colonies such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, and countries in South Asia.
The Boxing Day Test holds a lot of cultural significance to Australians. Occurring during the holiday season, it’s tradition for families to go and watch the game together. Pre-Covid-19 audiences ranged from 40,000 to 90,000 people per day but during Covid-19, the maximum capacity of the Melbourne Cricket Ground was reduced to 30,000 per day to prevent outbreaks. The show must go on, after all. However, it went back up to 57,100 people per day in 2021, quickly gaining numbers as we emerged from the pandemic. In 2023, the number of in-person spectators was 62,167 people, with thousands more watching live on TV.