MCG Boxing Day Test under threat

Australia’s Boxing Day Test at the MCG and New Year’s Test at the SCG are under threat after South Africa made an official complaint to the ICC over the scheduling.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground first hosted the Boxing Day match in 1950, with it becoming an annual event since 1980.

However, South Africa who have their own Boxing Day match are unhappy with Australia’s monopoly of the event and have lodged a formal complaint to the ICC.

“The South African submission was along the line of concern that the existing scheduling and arrangements are equitable,” said the ICC’s Malcolm Gray.

Australia will host India at the venues this year, but anything after that is uncertain and will be decided by an ICC committee lead by Gray, which was recently formed to review the international cricketing schedule.