12 Famous Boxing Day Test matches

The Boxing Day Test is a much-awaited event for all the cricket lovers. The St Stephen’s day might be a chill day, after all, the Christmas celebrations, but in Victoria, it is all buzzed up with the people queuing in to watch their national side battle one of the best teams, at the iconic stadium “G”.

The first-ever Boxing Day Test was actually played at Old Wanderers in 1913, between England and South Africa. But the first time MCG hosted a Boxing Day Test was in 1950 between England and Australia, but it did not become a regular feature until 1980. Since then it has been only once when a Test match was not played on the Boxing Day and that was in 1989 when Australia played an ODI against Sri Lanka instead of a Test.

Here we take a look at some of the most interesting Boxing Day Tests:

1. Australia v West Indies (1975):

The stadium witnessed a massive crowd with a gathering of about 85,600 spectators all gathered up to witness two best teams fight it out on the boxing day. The match marked the debut of Gary Cosier who grabbed the opportunity to make a century in his very first appearance. The match also saw the Australian greats, Thomson and Lillie rising up to the occasion by dismissing the West Indies side to canter away with a well-deserved 8 wicket win.

2. Australia v West Indies (1981):

This year is remembered for one of the most unforgettable Boxing Day matches. The first innings saw a terrible Australian batting collapse where at one stage they were 5/59. Greg Chappell, one of the team’s regulars was in his “duck period where he had scored 5 consecutive zeroes. In the midst of this abysmal performance, Kim Hughes knock of 100 was surely a silver lining. This was backed by Dennis Lillie’s incredible bowling. Lillie got the better of Alderman Faoud, Bacchus, and Desmond Haynes and also bowled out Viv Richards to pave the way for Australia’s victory by 58 runs.

3. Australia v England (1982):

This is one of the most remarkable cliffhanging victories where the win swayed from one side to the other to keep the fans in a fix until the end of the match. A win in this Test would help England clinch the series and after putting up a formidable total of 294 in the second innings and reducing the home team to 74/9, the hosts were pretty much in the driver’s seat. But a strong partnership between the tailenders Border and Thomson made the target achievable, with only 4 needed to win for the Aussies. This did not happen as the long partnership was broken when Thomson edged an Ian Botham delivery towards the second slip, giving away his wicket and the match to England in a nail- biting finish.

4. Australia v England (1994):

This Test was a memorable win for Australia because of Warne’s hat-trick and a dismal performance of the England team where they were bowled out for a paltry total of 92 while chasing a mammoth target of over 300. The star of the match was Shane Warne who scalped three consecutive wickets of Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough, and Devon Malcolm. This was a great achievement by Warnie who had already grabbed the attention of the cricketing world by bowling the ball of the century to Mike Gatting in his debut match. His performance provided the much-needed fillip to Australia in the match thereby paving the way for a 295-run victory and the Ashes title.

5. Australia v Sri Lanka (1995):

This match turned out to be one of the most controversial moments of the cricketing history. This was because the spin legend Muralitharan was no-balled seven times in three overs by Darrel Hair the umpire who thought that Murli was flexing his arm too much and it was almost as though he was throwing the ball. Annoyed Murli decided to bowl from the other end, but Hair was determined to call even from the square leg. All these on-field troubles took a psychological toll on the hosts and they lost to the home team by a considerable margin. Although Muralitharan went on to become a great spinner, his bowling action was in controversies many times with this Boxing Day match bringing it to the limelight the very first time.

6. Australia v India (1999):

Boxing Day matches are a dream platform for any debutant cricketer and Brett Lee was one of the lucky ones to start of his career on this day in 1999. It was in this Test that with his maiden performance of 5/47 in the first innings, which he followed with a couple of wickets in the second innings that he announced his arrival as one of the most feared bowlers of the game whom even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar found difficult to tame. Although Sachin played a commendable knock of 116 in this match; Lee accounted for the wickets S. Ramesh, Dravid, Agarkar, Srinath and MSK Prasad, which turned the match in Australia’s favour.

7. Australia v India (2003):

This match in all its greatness is an example of the talent and stroke play of two great batsmen of different teams, Virender Sehwag for India and Ricky Ponting for the Aussies. There was disappointment among the Indian fans as Tendulkar got out on a duck, but it was overshadowed by Sehwag’s blistering knock of 195. This was followed by a spectacular performance by Ponting with his 257-run knock as he had Mathew Hayden for support who himself made 136 and helped Australia in getting a resounding win in one of the best Test matches.

8. Australia v south Africa (2005):

This match was initially a regular show of Australian cricketing brilliance with Hayden and Ponting leading the side to a grand total. But a stupendous bowling performance by Andre Nel, Pollock and Ntini send the Australian side packing. At that time, McGrath walked in at number 11, with Mike Hussey at 27 on the other end. It was the crucial knock of 122 by Mr. Cricket in this situation which helped the home team make a formidable score and take away a feel-good win. Along with that, it also introduced to the world the most reliable batsmen the game would ever see-Mike Hussey.

9. Australia v England (2006):

It was in 2005 England had ended their 11-year drought of the Ashes title which was snatched by the Aussies the very next year to give Shane Warne a fitting farewell. Though Warne had different plans. Just like his breathtaking ball of the century to Gatting in his first ever Ashes appearance, he gave himself a befitting farewell by taking Andrew Strauss’s wicket which was also the 700^th wicket of his career. The match was made all the more memorable as the Victorian achieved this feat on his home crowd thus giving himself and all his fans and cricket lovers a fantastic Christmas gift.

10. Australia v England (2010):

This was more than a normal Test match. It was the creation of history. Initially, the indomitable Australian side was sent back to the pavilion for a meagre total of 98. This was followed by a daunting total of 513 runs posted by England in response. The result was a shameful kangaroo loss, and a historical feat by the host, where for the first time in over 20 years they had retained the Ashes title which got them an invite from the president David Cameroon of UK to 10 Downing Street. The victory was made all the more indelible by the England team’s Sprinkler dance thanking the Barmy Army which made the event unforgettable and the match exceptional.

11. Australia v Sri Lanka (2012):

This Test turned out to be a nightmare for the Srilanka and a cakewalk for the home team, making it a disappointment for the fans as there never was a fight put by the Lankans. It looked like they had accepted defeat from the start and seemed inevitable for the touring side. Early into the game, the Sri Lanka were all out for 156 with Sangakkara top scoring with 58. This was followed by a daunting 460 by the opposition leaving no scope of a comeback for the Lankans as their lone warrior Sangakkara was retired hurt and, Prasanna Jayawardene had a broken thumb and Chanaka Welegedara had a torn hamstring. This Test will be remembered as one of the worst performances of a great team.

12. Australia v India (2014):

This match did not result in anything controversial but was a display of young talent of both the teams giving their best performances and following the steps of the great legends they have taken over in their respective national sides. Steve Smith’s captaincy and his great knock of 192 exemplified that Australia’s future is in safe hands. For India the performance of Vijay, Rahane and Kohli signaled that India sure is building a side that will be a tough nut to crack overseas as well. Although Harris might have given a sizzling performance for the Kangaroos paving the way for their victory, Indian spin wizard Ashwin’s six-wicket haul in the match has given indications of the emergence of a great side. Thus, this match is memorable as it showed the grit of great cricketers in the making.

Let’s hope that this year’s Boxing Day matches between Australia and West Indies, South Africa and England revives the some old memories and at the same time creates some new, and the legend of Boxing Day matches continues till eternity.