There are two things Melburnians like to do on Boxing Day: shop, and watch the cricket.

Such is the gusto with which we love the MCG on this hallowed day that, despite overnight thunderstorms, and a forecast of depressing cloud-cover, more than 70,000 packed into the stadium.

This year's touring party, an Indian side dominated with familiar names — Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni, Sharma — are stars of any Boxing Day show. No other side, save the old colonial enemy, can match India as a summer drawing card.

The electricity in the air today told its own story. The Swami Army was, as expected, in great form (having your strike bowler on a hat-trick certainly helps). The Australian fans too were in full voice — though perhaps left disappointed without an opening-day ton from any their batsmen.

When Zaheer Khan nabbed captain Michael Clarke hitting on to his stumps, and then convinced umpire Marais Erasmus to lift his finger to Mike Hussey it seemed another Boxing Day Test hat-trick could be in order. In world cricket, no other occassion matches the exhilaration of a crowd like today, and having Khan run in to a cool and calm Brad Haddin made an even not-quite full MCG feel packed to the rafters. While Shane Warne was able to get an MCG hat-trick, Khan would have been the first to land one on December 26th. Luckily for Australia, though perhaps sadly for the history books, that achievement remains elusive.

With the Test evenly poised, few will have trudged down to Richmond station wondering if they'd rather have battled the crowds at Myer or David Jones. For them, nothing could compete with Boxing Day cricket. The Football Federation, and their A-League, despite having sporting summer primacy in their sights, dare not compete with today. They flirt — successfully, too — with a Christmas Eve fixture just down the road. I've no doubt football's administrators would love a competing fixture, but they realise, even away from Melbourne, they don't have the power to out-muscle cricket on a day like today.

The Test remains the jewel in the Australian Test cricket crown. Compare it to the test just begun in Durban between South Africa and Sri Lanka. Or to last week's Trans-Tasman Trophy decider in Hobart. Or even to next week's New Year's Test in Sydney. None will have the anticipation or the vibe of the MCG in its pomp.

Certainly, they will not have the crowd. This is what supporters of real cricket point to when they reference the over-exaggeration of the demise of Test cricket. This is the centrepiece of the traditional game.

It's also the centrepiece of Melbourne. We take pride not just in our four-seasons-in-one-day weather, so beautifully on show today, but also of our place as the Home of Sport in this sport-mad country. As much as the F1 Grand Prix is increasingly reviled, the Boxing Day Test is revered. You could survey anyone with a passing interest in sport in this city and they would list it at, or near, the top of their yearly highlights. It is a day where, after focussing on family and friends and food on December 25th, everyone hones in on the MCG.

The city defines the Test as much as the Test defines the city. And the Test is the focus of the summer's cricket. Melburnians know it, and don't we love it, too.