Boxing Day Test is ready to roar

The Ashes blockbuster between Australia and England appears destined to eclipse the attendance world record set at the MCG in 1961 against the West Indies of 90,800 with pre-sales pointing towards a full-house.

“Hopefully there’s a little bit of assistance for the bowlers on the first day in the first session, but after 20 overs or so, it settles down … then hopefully we get some spin later in the game from the footholes,” Sandurski said.

“What I try to do is to have the captains to come out, think about it a bit, then hopefully bat.

“I don’t particularly want them to come out and say, ‘We’re going to bat’ without hardly looking at it, or definitely bowl.

“As long as they have a little think about it and bat, I’m usually pretty happy.”

Australia is expected to field the same XI for a fourth consecutive Test, while England will be forced to make at least one change following Graeme Swann’s retirement earlier this week.

Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar is expected to fill Swann’s role, with the English selectors faced with the difficult choice of retaining incumbent gloveman Matt Prior or dumping him in favour of Jonny Bairstow.

The Boxing Day Test runs at the MCG from Thursday, December 26 to Monday, December 30.

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Australian squad: Michael Clarke (c), Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, George Bailey, Steve Smith, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, James Faulkner and Nathan Lyon.

England squad: Alastair Cook (c), Michael Carberry, Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Benjamin Stokes, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Monty Panesar, Scott Borthwick, Steve Finn and Boyd Rankin.

Gate opening times:

Public (Gate 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6): 9.00am (Day 1-3) and 9.30am (Day 4-5)
AFL Members (Gate 7): 9.00am (Day 1-3) and 9.30am (Day 4-5)
MCC Members (Gate 2): 7.00am (Day 1), 8.30am (Day 2-3) and 9.00am (Day 4-5)

Schedule of play:

Session one: 10.30am-12.30pm
Session two: 1.10pm-3.10pm
Session three: 3.30pm-5.30pm