After dour games in Brisbane and Perth on wickets that clearly favoured the batsmen, the historic Test in Adelaide proved to be a thriller with Australia enduring plenty of anxious moments before triumphing by just three wickets late on day three to take the series against New Zealand 2-0.
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Peter Siddle has overcome heartache and back-ache to hit the winning runs in Australia’s gripping Test triumph against New Zealand.
Josh Hazlewood returned a career-best 6-70 to bowl the New Zealanders out for 208 and set up the target.
But Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland wasn’t anxious about that, throwing his support behind a day-night Test against South Africa at the Gabba next summer.
New Zealand will host Sri Lanka before the return two-test series against Australia early next year.
Voges and Shaun Marsh steadied the ship with a resilient partnership of 49 – the third highest of a low-scoring match – before Boult struck again, dismissing the former by finding an edge that was again taken by Southee at second slip.
New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum said the day-night concept was the future of test cricket. Steven Smith got a similar ball from Boult and was out LBW for 14, while David Warner innings was cut short for a 37-ball 35 when he edged Bracewell to Tim Southee.
It led to 37 wickets in three days – a number unthinkable at Adelaide in the last six decades – and contributed to the fact there was no centuries scored in a test at this ground for the first time in a dozen years. McCullum’s New Zealanders didn’t need another contentious review, given the controversy over Nathan Lyon’s not-out decision on Saturday before he played a big role in Australia’s first-innings comeback and swung the momentum of the game.
There were two runs required when Mitchell Starc surprisingly hobbled out, Peter Nevill having become Boult’s fifth victim.
Smith, in his first full series as Australia’s captain, pointed to the performances of man-of-the-match Hazlewood and Marsh’s committed innings of 49. “I don’t think that will happen”, Marsh said.
He lost his younger brother Mitch during the final session, caught holing out to spinner Mitchell Santner for 28 with 26 runs still needed for victory. “It was an interesting little period of play but glad we got over the line”. “The thing about day-night test cricket is it is meant to allow test match cricket to be played at night time – it is not meant to be to change how test cricket should play”.
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The first wicket came in the sixth over when Trent Boult trapped Joe Burns leg before, but Steve Smith was dropped five overs later.
