The game might be a dead rubber, but enthusiasm for the relative novelty of a five-day Ashes Test has drawn the biggest ever SCG crowd
More than 200,000 people have attended a Test match in Sydney for the first time, breaking a record set in the Bradman era.
The final figure of 211,032 who passed through the SCG gates was more than enough to break the 79-year record, with the mark passed comfortably before play began on Thursday.
The previous record of 195,253 was set over six days in December 1946, when Australia beat England by an innings off the back of matching 234 scores from Don Bradman and Sid Barnes.
The first four days of the final Ashes Test were all sold out, and the cost of admission for the final day was a $30 ticket, with proceeds going to the McGrath Foundation.
As they have all summer, the Barmy Army’s insatiable appetite for Test cricket swelled the crowd, with travelling support filling the majority of the Victor Trumper Stand as their team battled for an unlikely victory.
“We’re so lucky and so thankful that wherever we go in the world we have the Barmy Army … who come around and watch us,” England captain Ben Stokes said at the post-series presentation.
“They’re going to be as disappointed as us about the way the series has gone, but that should never take away the gratitude.”
If the two-day Tests in Perth and Melbourne had been extended, the series would have stood a real chance of breaking the all-time record for a summer of 946,750.
The final mark after the pink Test was 859,580, with attendance losses in Perth and Melbourne estimated to be at least 210,000.
Despite not breaking the overall record, the 2025-26 season will still beat last summer’s benchmark for the highest daily average crowd.
The five-day Adelaide Test was also the most attended of any in Australia outside of Melbourne, while the Gabba had its second biggest of all time.
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: Australia won by 82 runs
Fourth Test: England won by four wickets
Fifth Test: Australia won by five wickets
Australia squad (fifth Test): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue
