In 20 Tests here during this period, there have been only two other instances of teams being bowled out for less than 300 in the first innings of a Test; on the other hand, there are nine instances during this period of teams scoring more than 500.
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“If we have that final session on the fifth day under lights, and a Test match result is in the balance, then I think that it could be anything for Test cricket”.
New Zealand were bowled out for 202, after they perhaps had the best of the conditions following Brendon McCullum winning the toss, before Australia reached 54 for two in 22 overs under the lights.
“It was a great day”.
“That was the exciting thing for the boys”, Peter Siddle said.
“It’s going to be a really tough day and I think the guys playing are going to do it tough”, former Australian captain Michael Clarke, a close friend of Hughes who was a pallbearer at his funeral, told reporters.
BJ Watling fell soon after dinner for 29, edging to slips off Hazelwood, before Peter Siddle captured his 200th Test wicket when Doug Bracewell clipped one straight to mid-wicket.
Batsmen complained in the leadup to the match about having trouble seeing the pink ball from twilight in warmup matches and Australia’s openers David Warner and Joe Burns bore the brunt of the challenge, each falling cheaply.
“We’re very interested in seeing how it [Adelaide] goes”.
Smith said the pink ball had been refined to the degree that it should satisfy critics concerned about its durability, and the first day-night test match should generate some extra excitement – and bigger crowds than the previous matches in the series.
“There have been comments from time to time but what we’re seeing now is more and more positive comments”, he said of the players’ feedback.
“The Hughes incident was one in 50 million but certainly we don’t want something like that happening again”.
“I think it was one year to the day since that awful accident happened and I think it shook up a few of the players”.
Starc, who has taken over as the leader of the Australian bowling attack after last week’s retirement of Mitchell Johnson, hit Williamson’s pads with a yorker in front of the stumps with the fourth delivery of his second over in his second spell.
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Several low key tributes are planned to commemorate Hughes’s death on Friday, with both the Australian and New Zealand teams expected to wear black armbands and a video montage to be played at 4:08 p.m. during the first scheduled break in play.
