Extreme heat due to climate change could send cricket's Boxing Day Test into extinction, researchers say

The Boxing Day Test may need to be moved to November or March in the future to avoid extreme heat, which is a danger to players and cricket fans, a new report has suggested.

The Boxing Day Test is an iconic fixture of the summer
calendar — but climate change could eventually see
 it moved to a cooler month.

Cricket Australia must also work to help grassroots clubs deal with extreme heat, the report from Monash University's Climate Change Communication Research Hub has found.

The study, commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), urges Cricket Australia to use its prominence to push for greater climate action and do more to look after player and spectator welfare.

Conditions in the middle of the ground can reach into the high 50s, with English captain Joe Root hospitalised with dehydration during the Sydney Test in 2018 when the air temperature hit 42 degrees Celsius, as a heat tracker in the middle of the ground showed 57.6C.

Read the ABC News story by Richard Willingham and Joseph Dunstan - “Extreme heat due to climate change could send cricket's Boxing Day Test into extinction, researchers say.”