Boxing Day Test 2024: Australia vs India

The Boxing Day Test is without doubt the number one cricket event on the Australian summer calendar.

Played on the hallowed turf of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it has become an Aussie tradition that dates back to 1950.

While it was next played in 1952, there was not another MCG Test after Christmas until the West Indies visited in 1968. The next one was a draw with England in 1974, then a win over the Windies in ’75. After that, Boxing Day at the ‘G did not resurface until 1980, when the Australian Cricket Board and the Melbourne Cricket Club sealed a deal to have an annual tilt at the ground.

A run of nine straight years ended when there was no Test in 1989, with the Aussies playing a Boxing Day One Day International against the Sri Lankans. Since then, there has been a Boxing Day Test every year.

And with the tradition of watching the first day of the Boxing Day Test comes the opportunity to lay a bet or two on your Aussies or, if you’re unpatriotic, the nation that is visiting at the time.

Next up are Pakistan, who will be out to avenge last year’s home series defeat.

Best bookmakers to bet on Test cricket with

This is my table

1

Fast Payouts

BetOnline

50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000

Visit BetOnline Review

Don’t get hit for six by a sub-standard online bookmaker. This is the best international cricket you will find anywhere in the world, and that means you want the best online bookies in the world to take your bets. We have inspected a mountain of bookmakers over the journey and found that these operators provide the best bang for your buck. Make sure you sign up with more than one so you can compare odds — you don’t want to miss out on the best odds when one bookmaker is offering a higher price than another.

Boxing Day Test bookie promotions

The cricket betting sites above are all but guaranteed to offer something a little extra on the Boxing Day Test. Unfortunately, recent changes to state and federal gambling regulations prevent us from telling you much more about Boxing Day Test betting promotions.

Popular Boxing Day Test betting markets

• Win Draw Win markets:
  This is the basic Boxing Day Test betting market. It is simple – pick the end result. Whether the Australians will win, the visiting team will emerge victorious, or there will be nothing splitting the two teams at the end, you need to decide what will happen. If you get it right, you are in the money.
• Highest opening partnership:
  There are only two options on this one – Australia or the team they are playing against on Boxing Day. It centres around the opening pairs for each nation. You have to decide which country will make more runs before losing their first wicket. The Aussies have a daunting record in this category, with the likes of Warner and company, but that does not mean you can’t consider the visitors in this one.
• Top runscorer:
  This is easy. You have to pick the player who makes the most runs. The market will usually be for the first innings and will be divided into each team, so you don’t have to wait until both innings are complete to collect your cash. It pays out on whomever makes the most runs for their country in the innings.



• Top wicket-taker: Similar to top runscorer, but for the bowlers instead of the batsmen. You will usually get a pick of five or six men in this one and you have to decide who will take the most wickets. It is the same as the top runscorer market in that it is decided on for each nation and again, centres on the first innings.
• To score a half century:
  This market will usually have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer and involve the top seven batsmen for each nation. The odds you will see will list the players name and then the yes or no answer and you have to decide whether or not they will make 50 runs or more in the innings.
• To score a century:
  Who can be a hero on Boxing Day? Will your favourite batsman ton up? A century on Boxing Day is next to a century at Lord’s as one of the most coveted moments in a batsman’s career. Can you cash in too and make it one of the great moments in your punting career?

Tips for betting on Boxing Day

• Bet within your means:
  We cannot stress this enough. Punting is meant to be fun and affordable. If you are betting with money that was meant for the dinner table, the school fees, or paying the bills at home, you are not doing it right. You are definitely hurting yourself, but you may be hurting your family as well. So make sure all your obligations are met and the Christmas presents have been paid for before you go out and have a couple of punts on the cricket.
• Think early:
  Trust us, it is a bad idea to wake up with a hangover from too much beer and too much food on Christmas Day and just start thinking about what bets you are going to have on the Boxing Day Test. Bet with a clear head, do your research and study up well before the day. Obviously there will be some extenuating circumstances, given the team is not always named before the day, but you can make some educated guesses, look at the form of the teams or players you want to target and figure out who excels on the MCG.
• Back the Aussies:
  This is the Test that Australia tends to lift for. While there has been the odd stinking loss, the Aussies, for the most part, have dominated this tilt. England have tasted victory at the ‘G only twice since the dark days of the 1980s, so the hosts are a pretty solid bet.
• The stars come out to play:
  There have been some remarkable performances on the MCG in Boxing Day Tests and the greatest players tend to save their best for the theatre of cricket. From Bill Lawry’s 205 alongside Ian Chappell (165) in 1968 to the four centuries in an innings from Usman Khawaja (144), Steve Smith (134*), Joe Burns (128) and Adam Voges (106*), there have been some jaw-dropping efforts.
• Check the weather forecast:
  Melbourne’s weather is the Jekyll and Hyde of the world. It might be the only place where you can leave home in the morning covered from head to toe in a warm beanie, jacket, scarf, gloves and pants, and by the afternoon wish you had brought shorts, a T-shirt and thongs. And that, by nature, creates uncertainty in the Boxing Day Test. Punters should scope out the forecast beforehand and bet accordingly. The draw always feels like it is in play, even though it is not a common occurrence.

Boxing Day Test records

Recommended!

Fast Payouts

50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000

Visit BetOnline

List of Boxing Day Test results

Subscribe

Login

Notify of

new follow-up comments new replies to my comments

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Website

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Website

0 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments