England’s quick victory in the Boxing Day Test is predicted to cost Australian cricket a staggering £5million. The match, which ended three days early due to an overly bowler-friendly pitch at the packed MCG, will result in significant revenue loss.

A full house of over 90,000 spectators was expected for day three, including up to 20,000 travelling English fans. The absence of play on Sunday will trigger a wave of refunds and lost sales from merchandise, food and drinks.

This mirrors the situation in Perth where Australia’s two-day win led to losses estimated at £1.5million. Matthew Page, the ground curator, finds himself in the eye of the storm after preparing a pitch with a generous 10mm of live grass that made batting treacherous.

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg had hoped to avoid such a situation, telling SEN Radio: “A simple phrase I’d use is – short Tests are bad for business.” He added: “I can’t be much more blunt than that. Historically we have taken a hands-off approach in all of our wicket preparation…but it’s hard not to get more involved when you see the impact on the sport, particularly commercially.”

While England captain Ben Stokes may have been thrilled to secure a much-needed win and dodge a series whitewash, he didn’t mince words about his thoughts on the quality of the pitch. When asked about his feedback to the match referee, he candidly stated: “It won’t be the best. Being brutally honest, that’s not what you want for a Boxing Day Test match. You don’t want a game finishing in less than two days.

“I’m pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world there’d be hell on.” Australia’s captain Steve Smith said: “The finances aren’t great and I think it was a sell-out tomorrow.

“We saw 36 wickets in two days and that indicates it was a pretty tricky wicket. It probably offered a little bit too much.

“A lot of the Tests have been played in fast forward and this one was over in two day, not ideal. It would be good if it was a little bit longer and we were able to entertain the fans some more but it wasn’t to be.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain criticised the pitch, claiming it turned the match into a mockery. He commented on Sky Sports: “I don’t think it’s acceptable not having spin at all and having so much movement in the surface.

“It was farcical at times and when things are farcical it is thrilling to watch, but there are traditionalists still in Test match cricket.”