Boxing Day Test: PREVIEW

Australia are on top of their form with consistent impact by the big guns against a struggling England side who will be looking to get some contributions from the 4 changes they made.

We have seen the glimpses of the record-breaking Joe Root in this Ashes but it hasn't been enough for him or the team. His tactics as captain will be under the scanner more than ever in this series-saving Test.
 

Boxing Day History

The ritual of a Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales & Victoria at the MCG over Christmas is the origin of Boxing Day Tests. It spanned over 100 years before it became a modern tradition in Test cricket since 1975, where a visiting team plays Australia at the venue on 26th December.

England & South Africa have been the best visitors with 33% wins. Alastair Cook, who celebrates his 37th birthday today, has been a phenomenal visiting batter these Tests where he accumulated 435 runs in just 6 innings.

Steve Waugh & Steve Smith are the only captains with no losses in 4 or more games in Boxing Day Tests. 
Smith would want to continue with the streak against an out of sync England. He is also the most successful batter ever in these Tests with an average of 91.6

STAT: Since 2011, Australia has only lost 2 Boxing Day Tests. Both to India (2018 & 2020)
 

Playing XI

England: Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (capt), Ben Stokes , Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson , Jack Leach, James Anderson

Australia: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
 

Head to Head

Overall: AUS - 148, ENG - 110
In Australia: AUS - 97, ENG - 57
At MCG: AUS - 28, ENG - 20
Boxing Day Tests: AUS -6, ENG - 4

Match-Ups

Australia
Warner vs Anderson: 290 runs for 9 dismissals
Warner vs Wood: 134 runs for 1 dismissal
Labuschagne vs Leach:  84 runs for 3 dismissals
Smith vs Anderson: 384 runs for 7 dismissals
Smith vs Stokes: 304 runs for 3 dismissals

England
Malan vs Cummins: 114 rund for 2 dismissals
Root vs Cummins: Average 22.6 with 7 dismissals
Root vs Green: 24 runs for 2 dismissals
Root vs Lyon: Average 54 with 7 dismissals
Stokes vs Starc: Average 17.7 with 3 dismissals
Stokes vs Lyon: Average 50 with 7 dismissals
Buttler vs Cummins: 50 runs for 5 dismissals
Buttler vs Lyon: Average 22.8 with 4 dismissals
Bairstow vs Starc: 111 runs for 8 dismissals
 

KEY PLAYERS

Apart from the 4 in-form batsmen - Labuschagne, Warner, Smith & Root, these are a few player who can do well

Cameron Green: He has been performing well and can come up with great knock or spell anytime. Has dismissed Root twice in the last 3 innings.
Jos Buttler: If England bats 2nd, it would be adventurous to have the best player of 4th innings in the last 2 years as Captain/VC.
Scott Boland: Debuts are eventful more often than not. Risky pick but will balance up the credit points.

Dream XI:-

Team 1

Team 2