Record crowd to attend Boxing Day test

Michael Beer bowls a delivery during a training session in Melbourne
on Christmas Day. (AAP: Julian Smith)

A record crowd of over 90,000 fans is expected at the MCG this morning for day one of the Boxing Day test match between Australia and England.

Fans have been lining up since early morning to witness the next instalment of a fascinating Ashes series, which sees Australia and England enter the fourth test in Melbourne with the series tied at one test all.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has fully recovered from the broken finger he suffered during Australia's win in Perth, while English pair James Anderson and Steve Finn will play despite being in doubt earlier in the week.

Ponting says he has no doubts that he is fit to take the field.

"The finger's good I'm actually pretty surprised at how I've been able to train the last couple of days," he said.

"I've batted a lot the last couple of days and I just took part in all the fielding stuff out there and just made sure I caught a few balls just to get used to the feeling of it."

The Australian selectors will make a decision later this morning on whether to change the winning formula from Perth of four fast bowlers, and hand Victorian spinner Michael Beer his test debut.