As the sun set, it was a spectacular new dawn for Test cricket.
And on early evidence, day-night Test matches are here to stay.
Spectators love it.
Some 47,441 people turned up to Adelaide Oval for the first day and night of cricket’s new era.
That’s more fans than attended the entire Perth Test between Australia and New Zealand – for the record, 40,288.
And almost as many as the overall attendance at this summer’s first Test in Brisbane – for the record, 52,199.
The Adelaide crowd was more than 31,000 greater than the biggest single-day attendance this series – for the record, 16,181 on day one at the Gabba.
(Another for the record: the biggest-ever Test cricket crowd at Adelaide Oval is 50,962 who watched Australia and England on January 14, 1933, in the infamous Bodyline series).
So the crowd figures emphatically answer one question about the concept: will fans embrace it?.
But what of the other queries? Chiefly, what about the pink ball?
Granted, it’s a small sample. But again, the early evidence is resounding.
The pink ball held up well – far better than New Zealand’s batsmen.
Australia’s bowlers swung it, but not outrageously; they seamed it, but not ridiculously; they spun it, but not prodigiously.
Australia used the same pink ball for 65.2 overs. And it never lost its lustre or, from a distance, was it hard to sight.
And fears the ball would hoop around proverbial corners under lights proved unfounded.
Sure, the Kiwi bowlers moved it through the air in the night session. But again, nothing extraordinary.
So that’s two ticks out of two – crowd and ball.
But what about the broadcaster?
Judging from the amount of times the Nine Network screened cutaways of a glorious Adelaide sunset, which turned the sky a brilliant pink and purple hue, they were like the fans: rapt.
The network is eagerly awaiting ratings of the first prime-time session of Test cricket.
It’s a fair bet that, like the overall package delivered on day-night one in Adelaide, it will be a winner.
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