MELBOURNE: Travis Head was running back and forth on one corner of the outfield at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As you walk out a little and come to the nets, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuchagne and Sam Konstas were batting in the outdoor nets. It’s 8.45 AM on a sunny Christmas Day morning and those are the only two sections of the entire venue that were going on like business as usual.
Out of on the field, it was hard to keep count of what was happening. On one side, Nathan Lyon was bowling to a few kids as Labuschagne was throwing around the ball. Mitchell Marsh was holding his newborn and Pat Cummins’ partner was playing with their son as the Australian captain was trying to juggle between captaincy and dad duties.
While Head was doing what he was doing because of the fitness test he had to go through, it was hard not to imagine Smith and Labuschagne bat on any given day. Konstas, meanwhile, was trying to work on some last minute things before his historic debut. For the rest, it was a day of family and unwinding before the big Boxing Day Test. For a group who travels for better part of the year, they get to spend the evening with their respective families on Christmas Eve before getting together at the ground. The players and their partners have their share of fun while recording the memories they make as much as possible. At one point, Lyon told the local staff that he and his family were going to walk back to the hotel. Usman Khawaja took a stroll with his daughter and wife even as Head went out to have a hit in the nets before finalising his place in the XI.
Cummins called it an extended family. “At the moment it’s chaos,” laughed Cummins when asked about what it was like to have their families here together for Christmas. “There is on average probably two kids per person so there is about 30-40 kids running around. It’s great fun, all the partners get along so well, this year we haven’t had as many partners travelling because everyone has got young ones at home they have all come together for Melbourne and Sydney Test. It is always a great time of the year. We will go off to Christmas lunch after this and all the kids have got presents this morning and running around hyper. It’s absolute chaos but it’s awesome,” he added.
From a cricketing point of view, Cummins confirmed the playing XI and even took some pressure off Konstas, who will be making his debut. As someone who made his debut at an even younger age, Cummins said that the messaging has been about doing what he has done so far. “I think you always want to do well (but) I was saying this to Sam the other day, I remember that as an 18-year-old, I was thinking I got a lot more leeway because I was young,” Cummins said jokingly. “It almost felt like if I didn’t have a great game, it wasn’t my fault. It was the selectors’ fault for picking me. I was like, ‘Well, they’re the idiots who picked an 18-year-old.’ You’re so young starting out your career (and) it’s Boxing Day. It doesn’t get any better than this. Just enjoy the moment.”
The Indian team, meanwhile, have taken an off day themselves. They had an intense training session on Tuesday afternoon but will come back on Thursday ready to roar. And so will the Australian team. The tickets are sold out. About 1,00,000 fans are expected to fill the MCG as Jasprit Bumrah or Mitchell Starc runs in for the first ball of the day. It is going to be hot, it is going to be packed and it is going to be an enthralling contest.
