Gerard Whateley believes has suggested a later start for the Boxing Day Test.
The first ball was bowled at 10:30am AEDT on Monday morning, but the crowd continued to grow for the next couple of hours.
What was originally just shy of 60,000 peaked at 64,876 on the day after Christmas, where fans were treated to a heated battle between bat and ball for a big chunk of the action.
The crowds exceeds that of the COVID-impacted years of 2020 and 2021, but falls short on the three years previous where Australia hosted New Zealand, India and England.
On Monday, despite the even nature of the Test at Tea, the Aussies fired up in the final session to have South Africa 189 inside 69 overs.
But earlier in the day, Whateley called for the Boxing Day Test to begin at 12:00pm.
Read his case below
“I think this Boxing Day Test starts too early,” he began on SEN Test Cricket.
“10:30 for the first ball, I salute everybody who was here. If I didn’t have to work today, I could not have dragged myself here for the first ball, I would have landed about midday (after Christmas yesterday).
“It’s just not necessary. The light in Melbourne at 7:30pm this time of year is perfectly fine and the only way it's not is if a storm has blown in, and you’re not playing cricket at that stage anyway.
“So if you stay a red ball Test, I’m not for a moment playing with that. But if you go festive season, midday start, (the sessions become) 12:00-2:00, 2:40-4:40, 5:00-7:30, I think that’s perfect.
“Then your breakfast becomes brunch and you neatly flow into the ground. As well as just being a pet theory, I reckon there’s an extra 10,000 or 15,000 fans to be had when removing the desperation for an early start.
“It doesn’t tamper with tradition at all, we’ve had all sorts of starting times… at this time of year, nobody knows what time of year it day it is… I reckon you can make it a special virtue, the Boxing Day Test is a midday start come and enjoy it then at 7.30 spill out, think of what it means to the ground at the end and the surrounding precinct.
“I think it would be brilliant.”