Test cricket still has some ticker left in it. Its slow and painful death has long been foretold, but Australia’s thrilling victory over India in the historic fourth Border Gavaskar Trophy Test served as a stark reminder of the vagaries, intricacies and glorious uncertainties that make the game’s longest format so utterly intoxicating. That the stars of the Boxing Day Test 2024 were a combination of both its stalwarts and newest inductees made the spectacle that much more gripping.
Having escaped from Brisbane with a draw by the skin of their teeth, India limped into the Boxing Day Test with Test cricket’s marquee series tied 1-1. It was a scoreline India would have gleefully accepted before the tour, with the team’s best chances for victory laying on the traditionally friendlier decks at Melbourne and Sydney.
An evenly poised series was perhaps why Cricket Australia was, in the lead-up to Christmas, cautiously hoping for 250,000 fans to attend the Boxing Day Test. It was an optimistic prediction which would have nudged the largest-ever Boxing Day Test attendance record of 271,000 (in the 2013 Ashes), but still nowhere near the all-time MCG – and Australian – record of 350,000, set between Australia and England in Bradman-era 1937.
But such was the electric ferocity of the contest that played out on the MCG’s hallowed – and wonderfully curated – turf, that a staggering 373,691 exultant fans filed through the gates across the Test, shattering the 1937 record. It’s a figure befitting of the rivalry between the two nations, which has long surpassed the Ashes for pure, raw theatre.
This is a Day 5 crowd, FYI 😳#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/RYK7HpnKun
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) December 30, 2024
It is admittedly trite to describe a sporting contest in boxing terms, but Boxing Day Test 2024 went the full 12 rounds, though at various stages it could well have been headed for an early knockout, a judge’s decision either way, or a unanimous draw.
The match began in ominously chaotic fashion, with 19-year-old debutant Sam Konstas taking a stunning, unorthodox assault to the talismanic Jasprit Bumrah. Hindsight tells us that this was a premonition of the carnage that lay ahead in the game, but for the first two days, Konstas’s pyrotechnics appeared to be a mere curtain-raiser for another routine victory for Australia at home, at the hands of the indefatigable Steve Smith.
What followed was an almighty arm wrestle, punctuated by new, old, and diminished protagonists alike. Foremost were Nitish Kumar Reddy and Yashasvi Jaiswal, with the 21-year-old Reddy notching up a stoic maiden Test century on the biggest stage of all and Jaiswal, with twin half-centuries, demonstrating yet again why he is regarded as the finest young batting prospect in a generation.
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Then came Bumrah and Pat Cummins. Much will be written and said about Bumrah when this series concludes, but for now it is simply enough to acknowledge that we are witnessing fast bowling the likes of which has seldom graced these shores, at least not since the vaunted West Indian attacks of yesteryear. India’s spearhead has single-handedly kept his team in contention, having picked up 30 wickets so far at the staggering average of just 12.83. For context, Mitchell Johnson’s 2013 home Ashes heroics – lauded by many as the greatest fast bowling performance of the modern era – yielded 37 wickets at an average of 14. Boxing Day Test 2024
Even so, Cummins had the last laugh in Melbourne, with the Australian captain’s all-round performance, including crucial runs in both innings, earning him player of the match honours. Cummins is Australia’s finest captain in recent memory, and certainly its most clutch. In many ways, he is the game’s most important statesman, and he proved so again in Melbourne.
In contrast, amongst it all lay the sad ruins of the careers of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, whose mediocre performances with the bat were overshadowed by what can only be described as abysmal on-field attitudes. From Kohli’s brash shoulder charge on debutant Konstas on day one, to Sharma’s petulant histrionics at Jaiswal’s dropped catches on the penultimate day, it made for compelling but ultimately sad viewing given the pair’s otherwise storied careers. Boxing Day Test 2024
Test cricket has in recent years paled in both prominence and priority to the cash-rich T20 leagues that have proliferated world cricket.
But Test cricket has not lost its significance. After all, it is performances in the game’s longest format which endure for generations, which are spoken about not only romantically, but as a genuine yardstick of success, of greatness. Holding aloft the Border Gavaskar Trophy, or even the recently conjured World Test Championship, undoubtedly means more to players and fans alike than a franchise T20 trophy.
Administrators will point to broadcasting and advertising revenue generated by T20 cricket, but Boxing Day Test 2024 was likely the most-watched cricket match of all time, and of course eyes on screens correlates directly with revenue. And by that measure, India and Australia have delivered a blueprint for success for the game’s longest format: fair pitches, affordable tickets, and a contest with relevance.
Fans can only hope that all administrators are watching closely.
