How Australia’s Test series win over India saw Pat Cummins’ stars do something no other team has EVER achieved Down Under

Test cricket in Australia has officially never been more popular; this summer, records from the Bradman era were beaten for the first time and we reached 40,000 fans per day for the first time.

At a time when fears remain over the future of Tests, officials will this week confirm data showing nearly 838,000 people attended the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

That number alone made the series the fourth most attended in Australian history, but it’s even more impressive when you consider that two matches ended within three days.

Test cricket’s average of 41,894 people per day is by far the highest in Australian history, beating the 1936–37 Ashes when Don Bradman was in his prime.

Attendance figures from that era are considered somewhat unreliable, but the estimated average of 36,500 fans per day was a record for almost 90 years.

In modern times, the 2013–14 Ashes was previously the most attended summer in Australia, with almost 36,400 people attending each day.

Australian skipper-captain Pat Cummins and his team (pictured together after the series win in Sydney) have branded themselves as one of the country’s best ever sides

But that has now also been more than surpassed by Australia’s 3-1 victory in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“It’s so much fun,” said Australian captain Pat Cummins.

“We all grew up watching Test cricket and loved it, so to be among that, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world for these few months.

‘Wherever we went in the country it was so well supported. It felt like everyone was talking about it.

“Last week in Melbourne I had never seen anything like it, and in Sydney it was much the same.”

Cricket Australia’s attendance numbers were boosted significantly by the Boxing Day Test lasting five days, with a record attendance of 373,691 people attending the match.

Optus Stadium also opened its doors to much larger numbers in Perth, with the first two days attracting 10,000 more people than the WACA could at its peak.

Sydney was also a perfect storm for officials, with the 2025 calendar meaning the Test sold out the first three days between Friday and Sunday.

Test cricket’s average of 41,894 people per day is by far the highest in Australian history

The Boxing Day Test at the MCG attracted a record number of fans over five days

The lively bowler-friendly wicket then meant the match was completed ahead of the return to work on Monday, when the numbers would likely have dropped.

But attendance was affected by rain in Brisbane, where a total of just 10,600 fans attended over the past two days.

Most importantly, the figures also show a demographic change in Australia.

This series broke the stranglehold that England visits had on crowd records, and this was the only non-Ashes summer in the top 10 most attended Tests in Australian history.

MOST ADDED AUSTRALIAN TEST SUMMER ON RECORD (PER DAILY AVERAGES)

2024-25: 41,894

1936-1937: 36,500 (estimated quantity)

2013-14: 36,392

2017-18: 34,669

2010-11: 33,959