Hopes of a bumper crowd at the MCG

AUSTRALIA’S Boxing Day Test against England could have a crowd of more 80,000 as Melbourne emerges from one of the world’s most prolonged series of Covid lockdowns.

How many spectators, if any, would be allowed into the cavernous MCG for the third Ashes Test has long been up in the air.

But with the nation’s second-biggest city reopening on Friday after more than 260 days under lockdown since the pandemic began, Victoria state Premier Dan Andrews (pictured) was hopeful it would be jam-packed.

“I want to see 80,000-plus people at the Boxing Day Test on day one,” he said in flagging a further planned easing of Covid restrictions. “We are determined to deliver that.

“It won’t be easy. I think selling the tickets will be pretty easy. But we are very confident that we will be able to deliver that.”

The crowd for last summer’s Boxing Day Test against India was capped at 30,000 per day due to the pandemic.

The five-Test Ashes series will start in Brisbane on December 8 before moving to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and ending in Perth.

Cricket Australia said in July that venues would be sold to full capacity, except the 100,000-seat MCG, given the city’s battle against Covid-19.

Victoria state, in which Melbourne is situated, recorded almost 2000 new cases and a further 11 deaths in the past 24 hours, but it is rapidly nearing an 80 per cent vaccination rate when more freedoms have been promised.

Andrews’ comments will encourage not only cricket fans but Australian Open organisers. The first tennis grand slam of 2022 is due to start on January 17 at Melbourne Park.

Last week Andrews warned that unvaccinated players were unlikely to get visas, throwing the participation of defending champion Novak Djokovic into serious doubt.

The world No.1 has voiced opposition to vaccines and refused to say whether he had been jabbed against Covid.