Controversial decision and batsmen's failure become the highlights of Day two at Adelaide

The controversial decision proved to be costly for Kiwis as Nathan Lyon went on to add 34 runs

Second day of the historic day-night Test match at Adelaide ended with the visiting team holding a 94 runs’ lead and five wickets in hand. New Zealand was dominating the day until a controversial decision gave the Aussies some hope.

The Kiwi bowlers ripped through their opponent’s batting line-up, as a result of which at the end of today’s first session Aussies were 62-6. Australian top order batsmen failed to put up a good show. Exception was captain Steve Smith who made 53 runs from 114 balls. Soon the hosts were struggling at 116 for the loss of eight wickets.

The second session had just started when Nathan Lyon swept the ball which went to second slip. A second appeal was lodged after on-field umpire S Ravi denied the first appeal. Third umpire Nigel Llong, a former spinner for English county Kent, started reviewing the appeal with video footage.

Available video showed that the ball leaped from Lyon’s right shoulder but it was unclear whether it had hit the bat. The ‘hot spot’ vision said that at that moment something had definitely touched the bat but since Llong was not sure if it was the pink ball at all, his decision went in favour of the batsman.

Llong had informed S Ravi over radio, “There’s a mark on the bat, it could come from anywhere - from a flare.” After 2013 Ashes, question over the infra-red technology was once again raised owing to today’s DRS ruling.

This decision actually proved to be little expensive for the Black Caps as Lyon went on to score 34 runs. He was involved in a 74 runs’ partnership with wicketkeeper Peter Nevill who scored 66, the highest for Australia.

Mitchell Starc who had to leave the field yesterday due to an injury, came to bat in an hour of need. He scored 24 from 15 deliveries with three boundaries and two over-boundaries and was not out. Australia ended their first innings with a lead of 22 runs.

Doug Bracewell bowled a brilliant spell with economy rate of 1.48 and three wickets. While both Trent Boult and mark Craig bagged two wickets, Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner picked one each.

Josh Hazlewood successfully thwarted the New Zealand top order as he picked up wickets of openers Tom Latham and Martin Guptill along with that of Ross Taylor. Hazlewood got support from Mitchell Marsh who took two wickets.

Except Ross Taylor (32) and Brendon McCullum (20) no one from the visiting team could cross the 20 runs’ mark. At the end of the day New Zealand is at 116 for the loss of five wickets with a lead of 94 runs.

Brief score:

New Zealand 202 & 116/5 (37.0 ov)Australia 224New Zealand lead by 94 runs with 5 wickets remaining.