Melbourne Cricket Ground to have a full house for Boxing Day Test between Australia and England

Melbourne, Nov 18: The highly-anticipated Boxing Day Test between England and Australia at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will be hosting a full house in the Ashes series.

The development came after Victoria lifted all the restrictions on crowd capacity as the state government hit the latest COVID-19 vaccination milestone on its roadmap out of the lockdown.

In announcing the latest easing of restrictions, Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews said mass gatherings at sporting events, including a big crowd at the biggest Test of the summer, was now possible.

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"There are no more caps, there are no more quotients, no more rules in terms of how many people can be in different spaces," Andrews said in Melbourne on Thursday (November 18).

"Whether it's 100,000 at the MCG on Boxing Day or a smaller group standing up at the public bar of their local pub having a beer, this is the COVID normal that every Victorian has built."

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The crowd for last summer's Boxing Day Test match against India was capped at 30,000 people per day due to the pandemic.

The record for the largest crowd on day one of the Boxing Day Test was the 91,112 who attended in 2013, eclipsing the 89,155 who attended in 2006.

The biggest crowd at the MCG, which can hold more than 100,000 people, since the start of the pandemic was the 78,113 people who watched the traditional Anzac Day AFL match last April.

Before that, a crowd of 86,174 people watched Australia beat India in the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup in March 2020, just before the world was shut down due to the pandemic.

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Cricket Australia had initially announced in June it would sell tickets for the MCG to 85 per cent of capacity, while all other venues were being sold to full venue capacity.

"We continue to work closely with venues and governments across Australia to ensure that events are held safely and greatly appreciate their support," CEO Nick Hockley said at the time.

"In the event that capacities are reduced due to government restrictions associated with the pandemic, we of course guarantee fans full refunds."

Men's Ashes vs England

Tour Matches

Nov 23-25: England v England Lions, Brisbane

Nov 30 - Dec 3: England v England Lions, Brisbane

Dec 1-3: Australian intra-squad match, Brisbane

Dec 9-12: Australia A v England Lions, Brisbane

Tests

First Test: December 8-12, The Gabba

Second Test: December 16-20, Adelaide Oval

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG