Boxing Day Test

Boxing Day Test
The Melbourne Cricket Ground during the second day of the 2006 Boxing Day test match
Status	active
Genre	sporting event
Date(s)	December–January
Frequency	annual
Location(s)	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Inaugurated	1950 (1950)

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 which is touring Australia during the southern summer. It begins annually on Boxing Day (26 December) and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

By long tradition, a Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and New South Wales had been played at the MCG over the Christmas period. 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 third 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 the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Australian cricket team secured the rights to begin a test match annually on Boxing Day at the MCG.

In 1989, instead of a Test match, a One Day International involving Australia and Sri Lanka was played, which Australia won by 30 runs.