For Test cricket, November 27, 2015, may well have been the first day of the rest of its life. Australia and New Zealand took the field on Friday afternoon for the first-ever day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval. In the annals of cricket history, this was the 2,190th Test match. But it was the first time in a Test that there was a dinner break, a pink ball, men in white played under lights and the day’s play actually ended at night.

In the build-up to the game, comments from players and fans suggested an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about how this experiment would turn out. After all, Test cricket hasn’t always welcomed changed in its 138-year history. But as the crowds for five-day cricket significantly dwindled in recent years and flocked to the much shorter formats of the game, Test cricket was under severe threat of becoming irrelevant. Reinvention was vital.

So as the lights came on in Adelaide for the first time in a Test, was it going to be a case of being darkest before the dawn?

In terms of the actually action, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Here’s what happened in a nutshell: New Zealand won the toss and batted first. Opener Martin Guptill was the first man to be dismissed with the pink ball in Test cricket, falling lbw to Josh Hazlewood. Mitchell Starc took three wickets before hobbling off on crutches with an ankle injury. Opener Tom Latham scored 50 but wickets fell at regular intervals. When New Zealand were seven down, dinner was taken for the first Time in a Test. And then the lights came on. Australia wrapped up the tail and the Kiwis folded up for 202. Australia then had to negotiate a swinging ball pink under lights and finished the night (at 9.25pm) on 54/2, trailing New Zealand by 148 runs.

The newness of it all was what really mattered. Here are some highlights from the world’s experience with day-night Test cricket, courtesy social media:

Winning over the fans was the main aim of the day-night experiment. Going by day one, it was a resounding success. Officials predicted a turnout of more than 40,000 before the game. The eventual figures exceeded expectations.

It was clear that the fans were happy. But what did the cricketers and critics think?






More than the lights, it was the pink ball that had everyone interested and worried. Australians Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood had raised concerns about safety. But there no real complaints on its debut. Here's the moment that the pink ball was bowled under lights in Test cricket:



 

Incidentally, it was also 36 years since Australia and West Indies contested the first-ever day-night One Day International match at Sydney. Friday also marked a year since the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, who was hit on the head by a delivery during a first-class match in Sydney. There was a tribute at 4.08 pm to Hughes, the 408th player to don the baggy green cap for Australia.