New Zealand cricket great Sir Richard Hadlee says he’s a traditionalist, but he backs the day-night Test experiment.

Australia and the Black Caps will contest the first Test under lights when they meet in Adelaide in a match beginning on November 27 and featuring a new pink ball.

Hadlee says he had reservations like others did when the concept was first mooted.

Now, he thinks it’s great for New Zealand to be involved in an occasion of historic significance.

“I’m a traditionalist and I always felt Test cricket should be played during the day,” he said.

“But as everyone says, the game has evolved.

“If you look at what’s happening in world cricket today with the success of T20 cricket and obviously World Cups and these sorts of things, the game is moving on, and here’s an opportunity for New Zealand to be part of history.”

New Zealand’s most prolific Test wicket-taker with 431 scalps during a 17-year career, Hadlee said the sport was about players coming to terms with different types of conditions.

“You’re going to have that in day-night cricket,” he said.

“The conditions during the day are going to be different to night time and how the players adjust to that and execute their skills at a crucial time of the match will be quite interesting.”

Hadlee acknowledged there were uncertainties, such as the extent to which the pink ball swung and how it would last.

He said it would be a case of reassessing after Adelaide whether the innovation was going to be a success of not, but “let’s give it a chance, let’s see what happens”.