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Australia, New Zealand ready for 1st day-night test match

Batsmen had spoken of the pink ball with trepidation in the leadup to the historic match and 12 wickets tumbled in front of a festive crowd of 47,441.

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The Australia vs New Zealand day-night Test match will be telecast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD.

Boult started the three-Test series underdone and was in doubt for the final Test against Australia in Adelaide starting tomorrow due to a back injury.

Both the teams will have a chance to register their names in the history as the first team to win a day and night test match.

“Obviously, losing someone of the quality of Mitchell Johnson is always tough for a team, but I think Mitchell Starc is going to step up and fill that role”, Australia captain Steve Smith said.

The central interest in the day-night Test was how the newly-designed pink ball would react in night conditions under lights, but the Kiwis were in danger of being bowled out on the first day of the scheduled five-day third Test.

“Hopefully it goes off brilliantly, there are no challenges and no problems”.

The pink ball – which makes its test debut at Adelaide Oval – is created to be more visible under lights, but has come under fire for deteriorating quickly in warmup matches. He agreed that the launch of day and night Tests could see crowds returning to the stadiums for the longer version of the game and also making it more challenging.

McCullum said he was excited by the prospect of playing in Adelaide, despite the scenario of learning tactics on the run when the floodlights turn on.

For a brief period after he was axed following last year’s first Test against India, it looked as if he was going to struggle to return to the national side, after a noticeable drop in pace and the prevalence of highly-talented young fast bowlers filtering through the domestic ranks.

“I think it’s really important that we continue to support the Hughes family and show our respect”. “We’ll take the lead from the Aussie guys on it and be respectful as we possibly can be”, NZ skipper Brendon McCullum said.

“Safety is our absolute top priority and I’m not sure we’re doing everything humanly possible to honour Phillip’s memory”, he told Thursday’s Sydney Morning Herald.

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Former Australian opener Chris Rogers, who retired following the recent Ashes series after experiencing ongoing symptoms of concussion, said the clip-on neck guard should be made mandatory in all helmet designs.

Australia New Zealand set for 1st ever day night pink ball Test