Cricket: Boxing Day biggest of the test year

By RICHARD BOOCK


The Basin Reserve will join the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Durban's Kingsmead today in staging one of modern cricket's most anticipated contests - the Boxing Day test match.

The second test showdown between New Zealand and Pakistan will be the fifth Boxing Day match at the Basin, and if it can raise to anything like the heights of the inaugural clash in 1998 against India, then it will be well worth witnessing. In that test, New Zealand set up a series win over India with a thrilling four-wicket triumph, following a seven-wicket bag from Simon Doull, centuries from Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar, and strong contributions from Nathan Astle, Daniel Vettori, Dion Nash and Chris Cairns.

As an introduction to the Boxing Day concept it was also a winner for the Wellington and New Zealand Cricket authorities, both of whom had worked industriously in past years to ensure the success and sustainability of the match.

A little later in Melbourne, Australia will square off against India in the third test at the MCG, a match eagerly awaited by most of the cricketing world after the tourists' famous win in the second test at Adelaide.

The Boxing Day test tradition was pioneered by the Melbourne cricket authorities, who scheduled the 1968 test against the West Indies to start on December 26 and repeated the practice in 1974 against England and 1975 against the West Indies.

But it was not until the 1980 match against New Zealand that Melbourne's special place in the Boxing Day sun was cemented, and the match became one of the main events on the Australia sporting calendar, with the Melbourne Cup, the AFL final and the Australian Open tennis tournament.

The only exceptions have been in 1989, when there was no fixture, and 1988 when the test started on December 24, had a day's break on the 25th, and then resumed on the 26th.

Most interest in the lead-up to today's Melbourne test has centred on whether the inclusion of fast bowler Brett Lee will transform the Australian attack enough to pose genuine problems for the Indian batsman, who were untroubled at Adelaide.

Players such as VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid made the most of the absence of some of Australia's top bowlers, and the re-introduction of Lee is expected to provide the hosts' attack with a sharper edge.

The only problem is that, while Lee has returned, Australia have now lost the world-class pace bowling talents of Jason Gillespie, who will miss the match with a groin strain.

In Durban, the West Indies seem to be having similar problems after losing most of their back-up pace attack to injury, not to mention the first test by 189 runs.

The Boxing Day test first came to Durban in 1994, when South Africa played Ken Rutherford's New Zealand side at Kingsmead, eventually winning by eight wickets after dismissing New Zealand for 185 and 192.

In fact, South Africa are unbeaten in six Boxing Day outings at Durban, beating New Zealand in 1994, India in 1996, the West Indies in 1998 and Pakistan last year, and drawing the 1999 and 2000 tests against England and Pakistan, respectively.

South Africa's most emphatic Boxing Day win was against India in 1996, when they bowled Tendulkar's side out for 100 and 66, and won by the small matter of 328 runs.

And even though the 1999 contest against England was drawn, there was still some top-class cricket played, particularly by South African lefthander Gary Kirsten, who made 275.

New Zealand's record in the Boxing Day tests is also impressive, and the players will be anxious for the trend to continue when they begin hostilities against Pakistan this morning with the series locked at 0-0.

They crushed the West Indies in 1999 by an innings and 105 runs, a match notable for Mathew Sinclair's astonishing 214 on debut, an imposing first-innings total of 518, and the seam bowling of Chris Cairns and Dion Nash.

The New Zealanders found the going a bit tougher the next year, however, when they arrived home from an injury-ridden tour of South Africa and were immediately thrown into action against Heath Streak's hard-working Zimbabweans.

Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan each posted centuries to end a run of lean form, but neither side's bowling attack contained enough penetration and the test petered out in a draw.

New Zealand beat Bangladesh by an innings and 74 runs in the 2001 Boxing Day test, the most recent to be played at Wellington after World Cup preparations interrupted last year's fixture.