Injured Starc won’t bowl again in day-night cricket test

“And that’s really exciting for world cricket”.

“It might not be a flawless ball, it might discolour a bit and it might be tough for batsmen for some portion of the match, but it’s been that way for one-day cricket since it started”.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the first ever day-night cricket test Friday.

“I wouldn’t think we’d name an unchanged 11, I think there’ll probably be some changes”.

McCullum said he is intrigued by the unforeseen challenges he could face during the historic contest.

“It was slightly different to the red ball; not much swing early on but you did get a bit of seam movement throughout the day”.

And the crowd played their part in an emotional tribute to Phillip Hughes, the Aussie Test star who died a year ago today after being hit on the helmet in a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG. “It’s obviously very disappointing, he was bowling so well and has been bowling well for a very long time”, teammate Peter Siddle told reporters. The visitors were surprised by the pace and swing generated by the pink ball early on.

“We walked into this Test series as well prepared as we thought we could be but just a little bit nervous and I think that affected the way we were able to execute our skills”, McCullum went on.

“If we can pull off a Test match victory here we leave Australia reasonably content with our work”.

Australia and New Zealand are playing in Adelaide this weekend, where the final session of the match will be played under floodlights at the Adelaide Oval. He said he understood the nature of his injury and mentioned that he was willing to play despite the pain as a lengthy recovery period of up to five months was required post surgery.

James Pattinson was the fast bowler omitted from the Australian team after spinner Steve O’Keefe was released from the original 13-man squad on Thursday.

New Zealand (From): Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum(c), BJ Watling(w), Doug Bracewell, Mark Craig, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Hamish Rutherford, Luke Ronchi, Neil Wagner, Mitchell Santner.

For Australia, Hazlewood and Starc picked up three wickets while Siddle and Lyon accounted for two apiece.

Australia were dealt a blow after play when it was confirmed that Mitchell Starc would not bowl again in the match after he was forced from the field having taken three for 24.