MCG Boxing Day Test under threat as climate crisis grows

Climate change experts have warned that extreme heat will continue to be a factor in the coming years

The Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground could be in doubt after a new climate change report warned of more extreme weather in the coming years.

The Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub have suggested that the match could be moved to the evening to prevent being subjected to hot conditions.

Bushfires have swept across New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria in recent weeks. As well as a number of deaths and untold destruction, the volume of smoke created led to the abandonment of the Big Bash clash between Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers.

Players have been warned they face being exposed to severe conditions if the annual Test starting on December 26 continues to be staged in the heat of the day, with a report commissiond by the Australian Conservation Foundation saying alternatives must be considered.

“Moving the event isn’t the only option, but alternatives come with their own risks,” the report reads.

Australia and New Zealand's Boxing Day Test breaks records as over 80,000 fill MCG on day one

“Because radiant heat is a significant factor in heat stress, night Tests could lower the heat stress risk to players and others, but there may be logistical, cultural or safety challenges involved in this.”

ACF campaign director Scott Sinclair added: “Cricketers from grassroots clubs across the country to those in the national squad need Cricket Australia to speak up for climate solutions that match the scale of the problem facing the game we love.” 

The threat comes after the most successful non-Ashes Boxing Day Test at the MCG for 44 years.

A massive 80,473 attended the opening day of the Test against New Zealand, the most since Clive Lloyd's West Indies played in Melbourne in 1975.

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