SYDNEY, Dec 20: The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) has been cleared to host the annual Boxing Day Test after ground re developments were completed.

The world's oldest Test venue was in danger of losing the second Test between Australia and Pakistan which starts on Sunday while the stadium was being redeveloped for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

But the MCG said in a statement that the excavation work had been completed in time and the match would go ahead as planned. "After almost three months of arena works, the MCG has been declared ready to host Sunday's Boxing Day test between Australia and Pakistan," the statement read.

The MCG is undergoing its biggest renovation in more than 150 years. The entire surface was ripped up in October so that workmen could lay the foundations for an athletics track to be built in 2006. The grass will be torn up again in February 2006 in order that the track can be laid for the Commonwealth Games which start in March that year. -Reuters