Perfect weather and competitive play with the pink ball, interspersed with the odd characteristic cricketing lull, gets the first day-night Test off to a positive start

It was a moment only Test cricket could have delivered, yet in 138 years it had never done so quite like this.



A carnival atmosphere reigned during the tail end of the New Zealand innings – with the floodlights on, wickets falling and most of the 47,441 fans baying for Kiwi wickets at the Adelaide Oval, it was more akin to a T20 match than the more genteel long form of the game.

It appeared this day-night Test, the first in history, was a limited overs contest in everything but name. But then, as the last New Zealand wicket fell, all out for 202, to bring on the change of innings, there was also a sudden and profound change in atmosphere.

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With almost cinematic timing, the Australian openers strode out onto the ground accompanied by the rays of Test cricket’s first-ever sunset peeking through the majestic sails of the Chappell Stand, bathing the ground in golden light.

A contemplative hush gradually descended upon the Adelaide Oval crowd, and as the Australian pair attempted to get their eyes in on this vibrant pink ball – another first for Test cricket – set against an increasingly pink sky, a glorious few minutes of nothing took place.

Test cricket at times is the sporting equivalent of gazing at sunsets; to be able to take in both at the same time proved a concoction powerful enough to reduce even the most boisterous green-and-gold Fanatics to stillness.

Then, suddenly, David Warner lost his wicket, and the crowd was unceremoniously jolted back to reality. The aesthetics of cricket may sometimes distract, but the game is still first and foremost a contest to be won, no matter how spectacular the sky above.

The Australians lost one more wicket during their time in the middle to end on 54-2, but unquestionably the day was theirs, which helped no doubt in securing a general consensus out in the stands and in the commentary box that this day-night Test business is a winner.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCallum, left, hands the pink ball to Doug Bracewell during the Adelaide Test against Australia. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP

Even some of the New Zealanders in the crowd, decimated though they were, seemed to think the format a success. Dylan Thompson, 38, had flown to Adelaide from his adopted home on the Gold Coast to witness his beloved Blackcaps participate in a moment of cricket history, but by the end of his team’s innings he was huddled forlornly within the security blanket of a New Zealand flag.

Crouched on the hill below the old Adelaide Oval scoreboard during the change of innings, Thompson admitted that he wanted to blame the controversial pink ball for his side’s woes.

“Really, though, it’s held up better than the red ball, and coming from a viewer’s point of view it is amazing – you can see it from all over the ground,” he said.

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He blamed his team’s poor start not on the colour of the ball, but on the unusual setting lulling the batsmen into an overly attacking mindset.

“It’s got a bit of a one-day feel to it at night time, so it might be a bit of a psychological thing,” he said.

If the organisers were hoping a later start time would see more fans drop in after work, the case of Yagnesh Nagarajan would be a reassuring example.

The 28-year old from Chennai, India, has lived in Adelaide the past eight years, but doesn’t get to Test matches as often as he likes because of his work commitments as a researcher. He said being able to enter the ground on a twilight ticket for the final two sessions was ideal, and further day-night Tests would “definitely” see him come along more often.

“I finished at 5pm and work in the city, so I just came in, it’s a brilliant idea,” he said.

“As long as the best teams play I’ll be here.”

The Aussies in the crowd were mostly jubilant, although not everything was just as they would have liked.

Aside from the wickets, there were also the missing men.

Brenton Hooper, a local from Adelaide aged 55, bemoaned the absence of Mitchell Johnson, the fearsome fast bowler who had retired just one Test earlier on his home turf in Perth.

Hooper would have liked to see how Johnson would have gone with the pink ball, given how hard a time the batsmen seemed to be having with it.

“It’s a shame he didn’t at least finish the series, but [Johnson] knows his body best,” he said.

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An even more keenly-felt absence was Phillip Hughes, the young Australian Test batsman killed by a cricket ball one year ago to the day.

After the first session of play, the future of Test cricket was briefly interrupted by memories of its recent past, as an audio visual tribute to Hughes reverberated around his adopted home ground. But then, it was back to business.

The players change, the rules too, the first session might have been tea instead of lunch, but Test cricket itself carries on as ever. Whether a briefly popular novelty or a new era for the game, the inescapable feeling from the crowd was that this day-night format was still essentially the same cricket they’d always known, only viewed in an alluring new light.