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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Jack Snape

Boxing Day Test for the ages is the cricketing dream Australia needs

Australia celebrate beating India in the Boxing Day Test
Australia take seven wickets in the last session on day five of the Boxing Day Test to beat India by 184 runs in an all-time classic match at the MCG. Photograph: Santanu Banik/Speed Media/REX/Shutterstock

Life rarely meets expectation. At around this time each year, those realisations come knocking with increasing frequency. Yes, you are fatter, poorer, wrinklier and less well-read than you would like to be. That fleeting aspiration in high school, that you might travel the world, or make a difference: for most, sorry to say, the optimism was misplaced.

So when a match of cricket delivers far beyond what fans could dream, it is worth celebrating. There can be no doubt that the Boxing Day Test was among sport’s finest moments. The most culturally significant annual sporting event in Australia, bringing together two rivals, ebbing and flowing right down to the ultimate hour of the final day. A victory that will forever now be associated with captain Pat Cummins and his peers, a loss sure to motivate a new generation of Indian cricketers.

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