Former president and life member of the Otago Cricket Association Nick Smith was in Adelaide for the historic day-night test between New Zealand and Australia and filed these thoughts.
Dumb, dumb and dumber. Australia clinched a victory but it was given to them by three dumb decisions.
Nathan Lyon not out? He walked because he knew the ball had hit the back of his bat. It was not given out by the on-field umpire, or the third umpire, and Lyon hung around for another 62 runs.
Brendon McCullum decided to bowl Mark Craig to the injured Mitchell Starc and the runs flowed.
But Doug Bracewell was at long on, 30m in from the boundary. The first boundary went over his head, he went back 15m and the second ball went over his head for four more.
Any schoolboy cricket manual says you go back to boundary as it is easier to move forward than back. The second four landed at the exact spot he should have been.
The Black Caps had three great advantages: Starc's injury left Australia with three tradesmen-like bowlers, McCullum's brilliant run out of Shaun Marsh and Steve Smith's rush of blood after playing a conservative first 80 minutes to steady the Australian batting.
But there were three blunders that cost New Zealand.
The umpires' decision not to give Lyon out turned a potential lead of 80 to a deficit and lost the Black Caps the opportunity to bat during the best part of the day.
The Craig-Bracewell and captaincy fiasco was costly, as was ill-discipline from the openers and Ross Taylor.
The openers were both well set, but got out to shots they did not have to play. Had they watched Steve Smith during the morning they would have noted those balls are always left when consolidation is needed.
And why on earth, when the team was fighting for survival, would Taylor try to play a shot square when it was on middle stump and a good length?
Another McCullum decision which was hard to fathom was continuing to use Trent Boult, Tim Southee and the spinners when Peter Nevill and Lyon were putting on their partnership.
All four seemed to be waiting for a wicket to happen. Bracewell had two cheap wickets and always tried to dominate. He was finally given an over and the innings ended immediately.
The deficit of 22, when a lead of 70-80 seemed probable, was very hard to accept for the thousands of New Zealanders present.
That difference in runs, and the ideal batting conditions the Black Caps could have prospered in during the afternoon, could have determined the result.
Result aside, the atmosphere was terrific. 40,000-plus people attended the first two days.
We were hosted by both the Australian and South Australian Cricket in marvellous facilities. In attendance were many notables like Ian Harvey, MPs, Sir Ron Brierley, the president of the MCC, former president NZ cricket and historian Don Neely, former England captain Mike Brearley, past test cricketers from many countries and, of course, Terry Davies, of Dunedin.
