New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 2014-15

At Christchurch (Hagley Oval), December 26-29, 2014. New Zealand won by eight wickets. Toss: Sri Lanka. Test debut: P. H. T. Kaushal.
Not even the most optimistic Cantabrian, buoyed by Christmas cheer, could have expected this. Leafy Hagley Park resembled a battle zone on its first day of Test cricket, and New Zealand's first Boxing Day Test for 11 years. Balls cracked off bats as if in a shooting range, and spectators lounging on their blankets and deckchairs ducked for cover.

New Zealand closed out victory just after tea on the fourth day, a pedestrian rate of progress, perhaps, after the start they had made. Piggybacking McCullum's all-gunsblazing 195, they raced along at better than five an over after being sent in, and peaked at 7.84 during a fifth-wicket stand of 153 between him and Neesham. By stumps, they had reached 429 for seven - the second-most runs on the opening day of a Test in the country, after 442 (New Zealand 364, South Africa 78 for two) at Wellington in 1931-32.

Williamson, who added 126 for the fourth wicket with McCullum, said: "Batting with Brendon, I felt like a library in the middle of a theme park."

Mathews had looked overjoyed to unleash his seamers on a hard, grassy surface, but they started badly. Both opening bowlers fell in a heap first ball in their delivery stride. Sri Lanka were annoyed, and the groundstaff summoned to brush and cut the landing strip. Distracted, the bowlers sprayed it around, dropped short - and were punished.

McCullum had strode out at 88 for three, just 31 away from becoming the first New Zealander to chalk up 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year. The first of several standing ovations came his way when he lofted Mathews over long-off for the first of his 11 sixes to reach the milestone. His second half-century took him just 29 deliveries, and his 74-ball hundred was New Zealand's fastest (four quicker than his own record, set only a month earlier against Pakistan at Sharjah). McCullum was unstoppable, muscling the ball down the ground and scything through the off side, even when barely given the width. The 55th over, bowled by Lakmal, went for 26.

Neesham returned to form with 85, but McCullum thundered on, and a fourth double century of the year - achieved only by Michael Clarke, in 2012 - looked a formality. But after he was juggled and dropped by Sangakkara on 153 at long-on, McCullum's luck ran out when he found Karunaratne at long-off. He had made 195 off 134 balls.

Sri Lanka's reply was shorter than a one-day innings. New Zealand's opening pair of Boult and Southee were too hot to handle, and only Mathews had any staying power. Sangakkara had scored a fifty in 14 of his last 15 Tests, but now Boult accounted for him for a combined total of seven. With just five sessions gone, his bowlers still fresh, and Sri Lanka 303 behind, McCullum enforced the follow-on. They adjusted well, knuckling down for 154 overs on a pitch that retained its bounce. Karunaratne played a classic opener's knock: high on discipline for a tick over eight hours, and low on risk.

But, with Sangakkara missing out, Mahela Jayawardene recently retired and Mathews falling for 66, Sri Lanka could not string together enough runs for a match-saving effort to rival Lord's in 2006. Boult and Southee bowled a combined 99 overs across back-to-back innings, and yet were still swinging a tattered old ball, both ways, on the fourth morning. Eventually, Sri Lanka caved in, and New Zealand were left to knock off the formality of 105 for a national-record fifth Test win in a year.
Man of the Match: B. B. McCullum.