Not even the great Don Bradman drew such a crowd. At the MCG on Monday, more than 50,000 fans had walked through the turnstiles by lunchtime, making the total attendance of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India more than 351,000.
The five-day attendance tally, which was still growing during Monday afternoon’s play, is now the largest attendance for any Test in Australia. It eclipsed the 350,534 who watched the six-day Test between Australia and England at the MCG in 1937, where Bradman scored 270 in one of the performances of his career.
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Joel Morrison, Cricket Australia’s general manager for events and operations, said officials had been “blown away” by support of fans during the match. “The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is a blockbuster event, and it has been fantastic to see such strong attendances right across the summer,” he said.
The record was set despite a lower-than-expected turnout on Boxing Day of 87,242. Every ticket had been sold, but temperatures close to 40 degrees celsius kept thousands of purchasers away. It left the crowd well short of the Boxing Day record of 91,112 set against England in 2013.
Yet subsequent turnouts have exceeded expectations, with 85,147 coming on day two, 83,073 on day three and 43,867 on day four, Aniother surge on Monday pushed the crowd past the record.
The match will not come near the record for the largest Test cricket attendance – over 465,000 watched the 1999 match between India and Pakistan at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
But the colourful stands and carnival atmosphere throughout the Boxing Day Test are proof of the status of the rivalry between Australia and India. Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley described the clash before the series as “the heavyweight bout that everyone wants to see”.
A large proportion of the attendance in Melbourne this year has been Indian supporters. Morrison praised the turnout, saying it “demonstrates the power of cricket to bring communities together”.
At the start of Monday, both teams still had a chance to win, and fans took advantage of cheaper tickets. Adults were charged $10, and those aged 15 and under were allowed in free. “A big thank you to Australian cricket fans for your ongoing support of our great game,” Morrison said.
The interest in this Test series has helped quieten critics of the five-day format, which now competes with one-dayers and T20 matches in the international calendar.
Ashes clashes between Australia and England have retained their status as cricket’s most prestigious arena, and the growing rivalry in the Border-Gavaskar trophy – aided by India’s economic might – means Test cricket, at least among these three nations, appears in good health.
The MCG will host another Test this summer. The multi-format women’s Ashes will conclude with a pink ball clash starting on 30 January.
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