Matt Williams and 94,198 other spectators watched Australia host England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on St Stephen's Day. As a Sydney boy I have never attended a Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and those unsettling questions moved us into action. Nice scoreboard, pity about the grass at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the most recent Ashes Test there. Before a ball was bowled in Melbourne, Australia had already wrapped up the five-match series by winning the first three Tests. While England snatched their first Test match win in Oz since 2011, the result for my friend and I was almost irrelevant.

Source: The Irish Times January 03, 2026 15:02 UTC