Black Caps Jacob Duffy bowls during the 3rd ODI cricket match between the Blackcaps and Pakistan at Bay Oval. Photo: Marty Melville
The lights went out at Bay Oval late in the final cricket international of the summer in a moment that could have ended in disaster. Now the stadium is investigating why it happened.
Black Caps pace bowler Jacob Duffy was in his delivery stride and approaching the crease with 21 balls left in the third ODI against Pakistan when the ground was plunged into darkness, just before Duffy released the ball.
Duffy was bowling to number seven batter Tayyab Tahir - a delivery that could have reached speeds of around 140 kmph - when he averted danger by not letting the ball go in the dark.
New Zealand Cricket said a mechanical failure was to blame for the incident.
Bay Oval Trust said in a statement that this was the first time such an incident had occurred.
"We are still investigating fully, but it appears the likely cause was an electrical spike from the network that caused a fault in the generator's AVR system. To avoid damage to the lighting system, our generators shut down to avoid an overvoltage. This is an expected response in such an occurrence.
"The Bay Oval operates two generators to run the lighting system, and there is full redundancy, meaning we were able to restart the lights on one generator and complete the game."
The lights were off for a total of one minute and 52 seconds.
As soon as the lights came back on, Duffy dismissed Tahir for 33 off 31 balls.
The ground has reviewed the systems and said damaged parts were replaced.
"You can never fully mitigate the risk of power outages or mechanical faults, however, the Bay Oval is in a much better place to reduce this risk when faults do occur due to it having two generators rather than relying on a mains supply.
"We always have a network tech an electrician on site for these matches and for this game they certainly proved their value."
New Zealand Cricket said they had no issues about returning to Bay Oval for night games in coming seasons.
Bay Oval had hosted five international games over the home summer.
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