The Boxing Day Test

In the early hours of the morning one Tuesday in June, I joined the queue to try and get tickets for Boxing Day at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), the showpiece day in Australian sport. Happily I was successful, and so I was able to be present for the thrilling and record-breaking 2025 edition of cricket’s big day.

Boosted by a huge influx of English fans, the attendance of 94,199 was a record for a cricket match at the “G”, the largest stadium in Australia. 20 wickets also fell in the day for the first time in an Ashes Test since 1950. The pitch has come under considerable criticism for this, but it did lead to a contest in which it felt something could happen with every ball!

Given how many had been in front of me in the ticket queue, I was pleasantly surprised by the view from my seat, almost behind (or here in front of) the bowler’s arm:

I enjoyed watching the Australian wickets fall throughout the morning from this elevated vantage point, but after lunch I decided to join the swelling section of England fans on the concourse behind the Barmy Army. Here I met my former students again, and discovered various other WBGS groups were there, so it became a surreal afternoon of school reunions on the other side of the world from Watford.

The evening session made for less enjoyable viewing for England fans. Our batting looked chaotic and we fell 42 runs short of Australia’s (albeit meagre) total. The last English wicket fell at 5:49pm, meaning that after the 10 minute innings break, there was a minute left in the day’s play to start the first ever Third Innings to take place on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test.

Australia’s number 11 and hometown hero, Scott Boland, was brought in to open the batting and a frenzied over ensued, with Boland blocking the first 5 deliveries, before hitting the last ball of the day for four. The MCG erupted, and wry smiles decorated English faces…

On the way back to the hostel, I decided tennis may be a less cruel mistress than cricket, so I took a detour via Melbourne Park, the home of the Australian Open. 2026’s first grand slam is only a fortnight away, so the venue was being spruced up, and I was surprised that it was quite so accessible!

I hadn’t bought tickets for Day 2 of the Test Match and so had my happy reunion with Chantal instead. I kept half an eye on the cricket though and realised Australian wickets were tumbling in the Third Innings. With Chantal’s encouragement, I decided to take the train with her when she had to leave, but to disembark at the MCG. By now, it was Tea and England were batting. There was a stream of Aussie fans leaving early, fearing a rare defeat, and the first one I saw realised I was in pursuit of a ticket and generously offered his! I trotted to the ground, found another spare seat in the sun by the Barmy Army, and prepared to watch history (England hadn’t won a Test in Australia for a few days shy of 15 years).

First though there was the tribute to Shane Warne at 3:50pm (350 being his Test cap number), which was planned to take place on each day of the Test Match. Fans of both teams tipped their caps in Warne’s trademark style, while the stadium echoed to the chant “there’s only one Shane Warne”:

England lost 4 more wickets after my arrival, but still had 4 to spare when they passed Australia’s total with leg-byes. Jubilant scenes ensued!

I was having to pinch myself that I’d made it into the ground for this historic day. It also meant I’d attended every day of three Tests, despite having only bought a ticket to one day in Melbourne. My tickets for Brisbane and Adelaide were part of Barmy Army packages for all five days, so I’d also done pretty well to get four and five days of play respectively in these Tests, given the other two Tests had both ended within two days!

The win clearly meant a huge amount to the players. Stokes and Root had never before won a Test in Australia and shared a now iconic exchange at the end. Root also walked to the middle by himself after his stadium interview, to blow a kiss to the Barmy Army, who had been singing his name throughout: a big gesture from a usually understated character! Root’s hundred in Brisbane and the victory in Melbourne bookended my eleven days of cricket and, in the absence of a series win, have been England’s best moments of the tour so far.

It has been great fun travelling with the Barmy Army, and the passion and humour of the English fans seems to have really captured the imagination here. I’ve almost felt like a celebrity wearing my branded attire around the country, such has been the (usually!) friendly interest.

True to the Lord Mayor’s warning, a group of us from the hostel decided we needed to head out to celebrate the day’s events. My only disappointment was that I left the Barmy Army bar a matter of minutes before Root and Stokes made a surprise appearance there themselves. But I’d met both in Brisbane, and it’s not as if I hadn’t had enough unexpected bonuses in the day. Or indeed throughout the previous 9 weeks…