In the final hours of Saturday’s play, day 3 tickets were still available for purchase, ranging from $88 to $187. Day 4 tickets were no longer for sale.
But not everyone is disappointed at the result. Speaking to this masthead from the pub on Saturday evening, English teen Tommy Lamb said the win, despite the shorter than ideal length of play, made his mammoth trip down under worth it.
“As much as, in the old days of cricket, you want a proper Test match where it does definitely last four days, and you get a proper game in there, I’m not gonna lie, if you offered me an England win I don’t care how long it lasts,” Lamb said.
English teen Tommy Lamb, who travelled over four months to make it to the Boxing Day Test.
Lamb, 18, made the trek to Australia over four months, passing through 21 countries to make it to the MCG on Boxing Day.
“It’s an absolute dream come true and so to have travelled for 125 days, all of that to get here even if we’re three-nil down, it’s absolutely unbelievable to be here,” he said.
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“Absolutely unbelievable to get a result in my first-ever game down under. It’s absolutely surreal, it would’ve been worthwhile, no matter what the result was, but I certainly wanted the boys to show some pride and some fight, and I really think we got that today.
“I’m absolutely delighted, and I plan to go out and have some celebratory drinks to celebrate the day. Now I’ve got a couple of days off before heading to Sydney for the new year Test.”
As many as 3500 England fans have flown to Australia to join the Barmy Army’s official tour. Up to 40,000 England fans are expected to join in the group’s activities in Melbourne this week.
Despite the Ashes series win to Australia, this is the first time England have won an Ashes Test in Australia since 2011. The tourists’ triumph prompted calls for anyone who manages a bar in Melbourne to start calling in more staff for Saturday night – and potentially for the next day or so, too.
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“Melbourne will be very affluent if England win,” Barmy Army general manager Chris Millard said. “The bars and the restaurants will be very happy.”
But taking to social media on Saturday afternoon, cricket fans expressed frustration at the short match.
“What a crap match,” one user wrote on X. “2 days of play.”
“The Boxing Day Test could have been an email.”
“Not enjoyable, not exciting,” said another. “We’ve been deprived of a good Boxing Day Test.”
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