New Zealand fought back late evening in the historic day/night Test match in Adelaide, after being dismissed for 202 in their first innings. Winning the toss and chosing to bat first, the Kiwis were bowled out on a dry wicket, after pacers Starc, Siddle and Hazelwood came to the party.
Hazelwood dismissed opener Martin Guptill early, as the opener became the first victim of the pink ball in Tests. Tom Latham, then played a composed knock and brought up his first 50 of the series, before he edged Nathan Lyon behind.
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The middle order, especially debutant Mitchell Santner and BJ Watling offered brief resistance in the middle, as New Zealand crossed the 200-run mark under lights and were shortly bowled out after dinner.
However, the day belonged to the pacers, who took 8 out of the 10 Kiwi wickets among them. Starc and Hazelwood took three wickets apiece, while Siddle picked up two wickets, including reaching his landmark of 200 Test wickets.
Siddle, who got the 200th wicket in Test cricket, in the form of Doug Bracewell, mostly played second fiddle to the star bowler of the evening, Mitchell Starc. But an unfortunate ankle injury forced him out of the field.
Shortly after the first tea break, New Zealand endured a mini batting collapse, as they lost 5 wickets in quick succession. The visitors were surprised by the pace and swing generated by the pink ball early on.
In reply to the Kiwis first innings total of 202, Australia, who were batting under the lights for the first time, were in a spot of bother, as Warner was sent back to the pavillion early by pacer Trent Boult. Soon, Joe Burns was cleaned up by Doug Bracewell, after scoring 14.
That the pacers took 10 out of the 12 wickets today, showed the nature of the infant pink ball, but it also helped the spinners early on. Lyon made good use of the dry wicket, and also managed to pick up 2 wickets.
Both teams though, would have been pleased by the crowd, who came in large numbers to witness history. Estimates suggested that the Adelaide Oval had 47,000+ people on day one, and promises to bring in more crowds during the weekend.
All in all, the first day of the historic day/night Test turned out to be a big success in terms of the game played and more importantly the crowd presence. Surely, the day/night match is one small step for Test, but promises to be a giant leap for cricket.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 202 (Latham 50, Starc 3-24, Hazlewood 3-66) vs Australia 54/2 (Smith 24*, Bracewell 1/6).
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