- The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was an all-time classic
- The Australians were left winless 3-1 after a horror start in Perth
Test cricket in Australia has officially never been more popular, and this summer broke Bradman-era records by surpassing 40,000 fans a day for the first time.
At a time when fears persist over the future of testing, 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 considering two matches ended in three days.
The average of 41,894 people per day for Test cricket is by far the highest in Australian history, surpassing the 1936-37 Ashes, when Don Bradman was in his prime.
Attendance figures from that time are considered unreliable, but the approximate average of 36,500 fans per day stood as a record for almost 90 years.
In the modern era, the 2013–14 Ashes had previously been the highest attended summer in Australia, attracting almost 36,400 people a day.
The Australian team earned a 3-1 series victory to claim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (pictured, Beau Webster, right, celebrates with Travis Head after making the winning runs)
Australian captain Pat Cummins and his team (pictured together after the series win in Sydney) have become one of the best teams in the country's history.
But that too has now been surpassed by Australia's 3-1 win in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“It's a lot of fun,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said.
'We all grew up watching Test cricket and we love it, so to be there in the mix, you wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world for these two months.
'Everywhere we went in the country we had great support. It felt like everyone was talking about it.
“Last week in Melbourne I'd never seen anything like it, and it was very similar in Sydney.”
Cricket Australia's viewership numbers increased significantly thanks to the five-day Boxing Day Test, with a record 373,691 people attending during the match.
Optus Stadium also opened its doors to a much larger number of people in Perth, with the first two days attracting 10,000 more people than the WACA was able to attract at its peak.
Sydney was also a perfect storm for officials as the 2025 schedule means the test was sold out for the first three days between Friday and Sunday.
The average of 41,894 people per day for Test cricket is by far the highest in Australian history.
The Boxing Day test at the MCG attracted a record number of fans over the five days
The lively bowler-friendly pitch meant the match concluded before back-to-work Monday, when numbers would likely have dropped.
But spectator numbers were affected by rain in Brisbane, with only 10,600 fans attending over the past two days.
More than anything, the figures also show a demographic shift in Australia.
This series broke the stranglehold that visits to England had on crowd records, with this being the only summer without the Ashes in the top 10 of the most attended Tests in Australian history.
HIGHER ATTENDED AUSTRALIAN TEST SUMMERS (BASED DAILY AVERAGE)
2024-25: 41,894
1936-37: 36,500 (approximate figure)
2013-14: 36,392
2017-18: 34,669
2010-11: 33,959