The umpiring blunder on day two of the third Test against Australia did have a bearing on the game, says New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum.
Brendon McCullum after losing the 3rd cricket test match between the Black Caps and Australia. Photo: Photosport
The Australian cricketers sealed a tense win in the inaugural day/night test in Adelaide last night, but the Black Caps might still be seething over a glaring umpiring blooper, which changed the course of the match.
Third umpire Nigel Long's decision to overturn the dismissal of Nathan Lyon, who was well on his way back to the pavilion after being caught behind, helped Australia's lower order batsmen to add a further 106 runs to Australia's cause.
McCullum said it also meant they had to start their second innings under the more difficult conditions under lights.
"Yeah look at the time it was obviously incredibly frustrating, it definitely had a bearing on the game, you hope sort of when mistakes are made they don't have a major bearing on the game but I guess none of us are naive enough to overlook that fact that it did in this instance."
McCullum felt it was an outstanding match and they were just a few runs short of what they needed to win the final Test.
"It was obviously closely fought, we would have dearly loved an extra few runs today but it wasn't to be and I guess it was pretty hard to separate the two teams over the last two Test matches. We've got a bit of a mantra within our team that if you are going to get beaten then make it bloody tough for the opposition to do so and I think over the last two test matches we've certainly stepped up and played some really good cricket."
The home side won the Test by 3 wickets inside three days, to take the series 2-nil.
The win ended New Zealand's run of seven consecutive series without loss dating back to 2013.
Australia will be here in February for a two-test series.
