Melbourne, Nov. 26 : The Boxing Day Test and all international cricket will remain at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the next decade under a new agreement with Cricket Victoria.

According to The Age, the deal ends more than a year of tense negotiations, after Cricket Victoria resisted the temptation to ease its hefty rain insurance bill playing one-day internationals beneath the roof at Docklands.

"We recognise that the Boxing Day Test is very much an MCG thing, but we gave serious consideration to playing one-dayers at Telstra Dome," Cricket Victoria chairman Geoff Tamblyn said.

Telstra Dome boss Ian Collins had expressed a desire to host "some or all" international games in Melbourne, and even made a play to steal Tests from their traditional home.

Negotiations with the Melbourne Cricket Club, the MCG''s landlord, broke down in August as Cricket Victoria pushed for a better commercial deal.

However, Tamblyn and MCC president David Meikeljohn both expressed satisfaction with the terms of the new agreement, which will apply to this year''s Boxing Day Test against South Africa.

The news of the deal comes as South African cricket boss Gerald Majola has pushed for a Boxing Day Test to be played in South Africa every alternate year.

Majola said that Cricket Australia’s refusal to bend on this issue, could result in South Africa Cricket seriously considering not touring Australia in December in the future.
(ANI)