The first stop for the self-anointed “Yobbo Crew” when they had arrived at cricket’s mecca was the statue of Shane Warne. The group – just one of hundreds who had dressed up for the big day at the MCG – wore thongs, mustard yellow bucket hats brandishing their name, and denim shorts with less leg coverage than a 7-2 field.
As the clock ticked past 9am, they appeared happy to be at Australian cricket’s great festival, but looked less than comfortable with the temperature. After the coldest Christmas in Melbourne in two decades, Boxing Day had brought wind, spits of rain, and a top temperature in the mid-teens. And so, before taking their photo under the bronzed leg-spinner, the Yobbo Crew took off their hoodies to reveal matching yellow singlets, and offered a zinced grimace.
Another fan, talking to his companion while walking down from Jolimont Station, put it succinctly, “It’s fucking freezing,” as his friend remarked how different it was compared with 2024.
It wasn’t just about the weather. Last year the cricketing contest between Australia and India held a nation transfixed, as the Border-Gavaskar trophy remained alive right through to the final Test. The MCG fixture, when it was close to 40C as Sam Konstas turned the heat up on Jasprit Bumrah, was the summer’s zenith.
At stumps on Boxing Day last year, the notion that within 12 months Australia would have won the Ashes but Konstas would already be out of the team was unimaginable. But few things can be taken for granted, as the police patrolling the ground with assault rifles reminded all.
Five overs in and the sun finally broke through, as England looked to find a counter to Australia’s generally competent cricket, AKA “Ronball”. There was an early test for Snicko, prompting more snickering from fans around the ground, then a surprise. The wicket of Travis Head brought a hearty cheer from the Barmy Army, and three more breakthroughs had English fans wondering whether this was to be their first Test victory on Australia soil in almost 15 years.
The morning’s festivities, with a full stadium enjoying a compelling contest on a pitch tinged with green, was a sight to behold. Although comments from Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive, Todd Greenberg, before play outside the ground, suggested it should not be taken for granted.
The fixture has become one of cricket’s grand traditions since it was established in the 1980s, but CA’s new boss – overseeing the national pastime on Boxing Day for the first time – said a pink-ball Test match the day after Christmas was “not off the cards”.
“We’ve been talking a lot about the strength of pink-ball cricket. It was amazing this year in Brisbane, it has been really good in Adelaide,” he said. “March 2027, we’ll get an opportunity here in Melbourne.”
Greenberg was talking about the one-off 150th anniversary match between these sides. Despite that event’s nod to the past, it now represents a pilot for the evening timeslot loved by broadcasters.
Stuart Fox, chief executive of the Melbourne Cricket Club, offered the counter argument. “I actually love the tradition personally,” he said. “I love the tradition of a day game here, and I think the day-night Tests have been great in Adelaide and Brisbane.”
Fox had expressed disappointment earlier in the week that the outcome of the Ashes series had already been settled before the MCG clash, but was still hopeful of a ground record single day Test attendance, beating the 91,112 set in 2013. “It’ll be a record today,” he said on Friday morning. His confidence was justified when the figure of 93,442 was announced just before 3pm. It is not only a Test match record, it eclipses the 93,013 that attended the World Cup final in 2015 to make it MCG’s biggest ever cricket crowd.
While AFL grand finals attract more than 100,000, cricket attendances at the MCG are capped due to the seats lost at either end. “I’ve been trying to see if Todd could remove some of the sight screens and reduce them because then we could get a few more seats in the stadium,” Fox said lightheardly. “The players, I don’t think they quite agree with my thoughts.”
The pursuit of growth is the reason for a mooted rebuild of the Shane Warne Stand, which was constructed in the 1990s. A business case is currently being prepared, and a capacity increase is on the table to return the MCG to the top 10 list of the world’s biggest stadiums. “You go to India, as one example, people know the MCG before they know the Sydney Harbour Bridge,” said Victorian sport minister, Steve Dimopoulos. “We want to make sure that it stays an iconic venue for the next 50 years.”
Outside the ground, there was a mob of inflatable kangaroo outfits, and a horde of men wearing viking helmets adorned with golden pigtails. A family of four from Queensland had come down for the first two days, their outfits matching in lemon yellow and a mosaic of cockatoos. Tomorrow’s were to have pineapples, according to the mother’s plan, although the son had outgrown his and would wear his Australian jersey.
Nearby, a middle-aged Indian husband and wife took off their puffer jackets for a picture under the Boxing Day Test sign. It was an English couple, about the same age, they approached to take the snap. Afterwards, the Englishman asked shyly, “Would you mind doing one of us?”, just as the group was set to part.
Another Englishman, Rob Goliah, arrived in lycra at the ground before play. He had ridden his bicycle from Melbourne in Derbyshire, across 22 countries, to its Victorian namesake to raise money for medical research. His cross-border journey was celebrated with the international language of a “shoey”. His was the first of many Boxing Day beers to find the floor.
