First day–night Test match

Cricket history was made on 27–29 November 2015 when Australia and New Zealand contested the first ever day–night Test match, at the Adelaide Oval in South Australia. Play began at 14:00 local time and a pink ball – designed to be visible both in natural light and under floodlights – was used, but otherwise the contest was subject to normal Test match rules and regulations, with tea and dinner breaks replacing lunch and tea. With a later start and finish time (21:00), the ICC (International Cricket Council) hoped that the experiment would encourage more people to watch Test cricket (for example, after work or school in the evenings), and day–night matches are expected to be adopted by other Test-playing countries.

High ticket prices, early finishes to five-day games and the popularity of Twenty20 cricket have hit Test match attendances in recent years. Day–night Tests are an attempt to arrest the decline of the format, which dates back to 15 March 1877.

New Zealand Cricket agreed to the day–night match in June 2015 as part of a lucrative financial package secured by arranging their first Test series against Australia since 2011.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said: "One of the global challenges with Test cricket is that most of the matches outside holiday periods are played on weekdays, in the middle of the day when people are at work and kids are at school. By shifting the playing times, each day's play can go into the evening and allow people to come in after work or after school to attend the last few hours of play."

New Zealand batted first in the first day-night Test, with opener Martin Guptill receiving the first (pink) ball from Aussie quick Mitchell Starc in front of a crowd of 47,441 at the Adelaide Oval. Guptill also scored the first run in day-night cricket and was the first man out, lbw to Josh Hazlewood for 1.

Australia were 54 for 2 in reply to New Zealand's 202 all out at the end of the first day's play (21:25). Australia went on to win the match by three wickets inside three days, and with it the three-match series, 2–0.

27 November 2015 marked the first anniversary of the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes. Players wore black armbands at the Adelaide Oval, and tributes were paid during the tea interval at 4:08 p.m. (408 being the number of Hughes' Australian "baggy green" cap, traditionally given to players when they make their first international appearance).