Australia hits close win over New Zealand in historic day-night Test

Australia earned a stunning three-wicket win against New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday within three days in the historic first ever day-night Test match. Shaun Marsh had steered Australia close to win before losing his wicket on 49 and the fighting Kiwis stretched the match to a tense finish under the lights by also removing Peter Nevill leaving Australia seven wickets down.

The crowd took a sigh of relief when Peter Siddle smashed winning runs with Mitchell Starc as his batting partner to take a 2-0 series win over the fearless Black Caps. The first Brisbane Test was won by Australia by 208 runs and the second Perth Test was ended in a draw. The match was an opportunity for Marsh whose inconsistent batting performances over his four years at Test level were hindering him to secure a place in the Australian team.

The pink ball especially made for day-night Tests left the bat behind in a three-day Test which attracted total viewers of 123,736. The objective of day-night Test is to attract the crowds back to the long form of the game. It was the first Test at the Adelaide Oval in 64 years that ended in three-days since the West Indies defeated Australia by six wickets. The hosts lost their key batsmen Smith and David Warner within seven balls after they were set a target of 187 to win.

Smith played a pull shot off Doug Bracewell towards Santner on the leg-side but he missed the skied chance when Australian skipper was on two. However Southee caught Warner off Bracewell 12 balls later. Kiwis got another breakthrough when Boult trapped Smith leg before seven balls later. Australia still needed 121 for victory when Smith was dismissed after scoring just 14 with his team on shaky 66 for three. New Zealand was earlier bowled out for 208 taking a lead of 186 in the day’s first session.