5 Of The Best Boxing Day Test Matches At Melbourne Cricket Ground

When play gets underway in the fourth match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India, it will mark the 50th anniversary of the Boxing Day Test tradition at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

There have been some memorable Boxing Day Test matches at the MCG, including one of the tightest-ever finishes in an Ashes thriller.

1. 1982 Fourth Ashes Test Match, England v Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground

The 1982/83 Ashes in Australia was in danger of petering out after Greg Chappell’s team took a 2-0 lead with two to play. England needed a win at the MCG to keep the series alive.

Bob Willis’s side were only three runs behind after one innings each but needed unlikely heroes in the second knock. Derek Pringle and evergreen 41-year-old wicketkeeper Bob Taylor’s late-order resistance pushed the victory target up to 292.

Norman Cowans ripped through Australia in the second innings and they collapsed to 218-9, still needing 74 to win. In a heroic stand that echoed Brett Lee and Mike Kasprowicz’s efforts at Edgbaston in 2005, Allan Border and Jeff Thomson came agonizingly close to the target on the fourth morning. The 18,000 spectators who turned up for a free look at the final act were captivated.

With just one boundary needed to reclaim the urn, Thomson edged Ian Botham. Chris Tavare fumbled at second slip but Geoff Miller, standing at first, completed the grab behind him.

That man Botham, the hero of the Ashes in 1981, had done it again. “I couldn’t talk about it for years. It was one of the all-time low moments in my life, ” recalled Thomson.

2. 2020 Second Test Match, Australia v India at Melbourne Cricket Ground

India went into the second Test of the series against Australia with trepidation after being bowled out for 36 in Adelaide, their lowest ever in the five-day game. They were also without skipper Virat Kohli who returned home for the birth of his first child. It was fight or flight.

Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane stood up to be counted in Kohli’s absence, scoring 112 in the first innings and hitting the winning run in the second knock. “The talk was all about showing attitude, intent and character. One hour took the game away from us in Adelaide, but we still have a lot to learn,” said the hero of this hour. The capacity at the MCG had been reduced for every day of the game due to the COVID-19 pandemic as India triumphed by eight wickets.

3. 1998 Fourth Ashes Test Match, Australia v England at Melbourne Cricket Ground

England were already out for the count in the 1998/99 Ashes series. On arrival at the MCG, they were looking for redemption against a far superior Australian team.

When the Aussies were 103-2 chasing a modest 175 to go 3-0 up with one to play, there was an air of resignation about Alec Stewart’s team. Inspiration came via an incredible leaping catch by Mark Ramprakash. The English were reenergized. Fast bowler Dean Headley took the wickets of Darren Lehmann, Ian Healy and Damien Fleming with the score stuck on 140.

Undeterred, Baggy Green skipper Mark Taylor decided to claim the extra half-hour to complete Australia’s victory with just 13 needed. Yet England burst through again with another three wickets as pride was restored to some extent.

4. 2018 Third Test, Australia v India at Melbourne Cricket Ground

India’s 2018 tour of Australia was the beginning of the true rivalry in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Virat Kohli’s aggressive captaincy and Cheteshwar Pujara’s run-scoring was at the heart of India’s series win. Significantly, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant took to their first year in Test cricket like ducks to water.

After another century by the prolific Pujara at the MCG, India took almost a 300-run first-innings lead as Bumrah burst through Australia’s defenses to lay down a marker for the future. The fast bowler ended up with nine wickets and India finally released themselves from their 71-year-old air of inferiority in Australia.

“We’re not going to stop here, this has only given us more confidence to go out in Sydney and play even more positive cricket,” Kohli said. They piled up 600 in the first innings to secure the series.

5. 1981 First Test, Australia v West Indies at Melbourne Cricket Ground

The West Indies arrived at the MCG unbeaten in 15 Tests and with a battery of pace bowlers to die for.

Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Colin Croft steamed in on a pitch that was described as “shocking” by Australian seamer Terry Alderman. A ball was as likely to bounce head high as well as keep low. The Australian top four managed just 11 runs between them, but captain Kim Hughes counter-attacked in the crossfire to deliver an unbeaten hundred.

To put that innings in context, Larry Gomes top-scored for the West Indies with 55 across their two innings. Viv Richards only managed two runs in the match while Dennis Lillee broke the record for Test wickets in his ten-wicket haul as Australia won by 62 runs.

Hughes’ century is ranked as one of the most courageous in Test cricket. “He pulled them and he hooked them and it was an innings of great bravery because not only do you need the physical courage … but it takes a lot of mental fortitude to, in those circumstances, take the bowlers on. It’s probably the bravest innings that I think I’ve ever seen,” Ian Chappell told ESPNcricinfo.