Absolute cinema: The Boxing Day Test was what Australian sport needed!

Test cricket. It’s Australia’s favourite pastime.

But unfortunately for our great game, we have been starved of an all-time classic on our home shores.

Sure, we’ve been given classic moments like Boland’s six at the ‘G on debut, Warner smashing 335 against Pakistan in Adelaide and anytime Pat Cummins is given the ball. But, we here in Australia haven’t experienced true cinema in the Test arena for more than a decade.

That was until 10:30 am on 26 December 2024.

See, Australian cricket had seen a lull for a few years, and it needed something, someone to reignite the country’s passion for the Test arena. Turns out, all it took was a 19-year-old with a Greek name, a lot of chatter, a bit of bravado, and a ton of talent. I am, of course, talking about Sam Konstas.

Coming into the fourth Test at the MCG for the Border Gavaskar Trophy, we had already seen a spicy series, but all three games were blowouts in one direction or another. Perth was dominated by the Indian quicks, Adelaide saw the Aussies recapture some form and Brisbane experienced a lot of rain.

Melbourne needed something a bit different to take the series to the next level and it delivered.

Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s best bowler stood at the top of his mark. Having taken 19 wickets already in four Australian innings, the plan every viewer expected was to block him out and pray he wasn’t feeling his best, everyone except the one guy who had to face him that is.

Only 11 balls into his international career, Sam Konstas pulled out a lap sweep on a 140 km/h inswinger against the Indian phenom, and in doing so the 90,000 at Australia’s Colosseum of Sport, held their collective breath.

“WHAT THE F&@* WAS THAT?!” I recalled someone in my lounge room yelling at the time. (It was me.)

The young Konstas showed an arrogance we haven’t seen for a long, long time. He never thought himself better than his opponents, but unlike eight or nine others in the Aussie team, he was up for the fight against the powerhouse that is the Indian cricket team and the BCCI.

Not even two overs later, he reverses the bat, plays a ball over the head of wicketkeeper Rishbah Pant and the slip cordon filled with Indian captain Rohit Sharma and the god himself Virat Kohli, hitting Bumrah for his first six in four years!

In one stroke, the debutant got under the skin of 1.4 billion people and for 27 million Aussies, a chorus of WTFs turned into applause and acknowledgement for a new icon.

For the next five days, the country got to experience nothing short of absolute cinema.

All it took was two hours of expansive batting against the world’s best to shoot a simple game into the hottest thing on television.

The young Konstas became an instant box office draw, so much so that not even a hip and shoulder from Virat Kohli could deter the young lad.

He led the other 10 players on the team, all at least 11 years his senior, to their highest score in almost three years: 474.

A quick fight with the ball saw the Indians trail by 105 heading into the Aussies’ second innings with the bat. It was then that everyone switched on early to see the young Konstas bat again and although he only scored eight runs, it was the best eight runs you’ll ever see.

Unfortunately for Australia, they faltered to 9 for 173 with a lead of 278 – not enough runs to put the Indians away. There was too much time left and too much firepower in the Indian sheds. Fortunately, the GOAT from Young, Nathan Lyon and the hometown hero, Scotty Boland hit the crease.

The Riverina icon smashed them to all parts, posting his equal second-highest score of 41 and the pair elevated the lead to 345, allowing the bowlers 94 overs on the final day to bowl India out.

The first session was a brilliant start. Sharma, KL Rahul and Kohli were all back in the sheds and the possibility of India chasing the runs down had all but disappeared.

Unfortunately for Australia, Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had been a thorn in the Aussie side all series, and Risbah Pant, someone who stole a victory in Brisbane under similar circumstances in 2021, were still at the crease.

For 30 overs, the Aussies weren’t given a sniff – nothing, nada, zilch. So much so, that Fox Cricket’s AI predictor at one stage gave the Aussies less than a 15 per cent chance of producing a win.

That is until one bowler’s half-tracking off-spinners turned the run chase on its ‘Head’.

Travis Head, the man of the series so far for his performances with the bat, was brought into the attack to get the Aussies’ over rate back on track; what he did instead was dismiss the Inidan’s scariest batter.

The 75,000-strong MCG crowd (a record for the fifth day of a Test) erupted and what followed was an avalanche.

Cummins, Lyon and Boland took the remaining six wickets in less than 20 overs and with 45 minutes left of the 40-hour Test, Australia won, to go 2-1 up in the series.

The emotion was high, the crowds were even bigger and with viewership to rival that of the Super Bowl, the Australian cricket team claimed the best win in this country since the Phil Hughes tribute game in Adelaide a decade prior.

Who knew all it would take would be a 19-year-old to bring the fun back to Test cricket?