While India and England in the last couple of years brought similarly enthusiastic crowds on Boxing Day, the Kiwis were given extra impetus by the combination of the good pitch and their swing bowlers.

The pitch had been flat and boring against India and England but this year it was improved and encouraged the swing and seam of Boult, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Colin de Grandhomme.

It just all felt right. Everything except for the fact the famous Bay 13 - usually a section of chanting, beer swilling and fun - had been inexplicably replaced with a $195 ticketed hospitality area known as the "Boundary Social".

But that fun remained elsewhere courtesy of New Zealanders, particularly in the Olympic Stand.

Friends Craig Archer and Nic Van Hattum, from Wellington but living in Melbourne, were enjoying the atmosphere there while sporting T-shirts printed with Steve Smith's crying face, a famous image from the ball tampering scandal.

“It’s huge being here," Archer said. "Boxing Day tests in Wellington were pretty special. The Basin reserve is a beautiful ground, it's bloody good, but this is a pilgrimage for cricket fans. I’m lucky I live down the road now but I have mates I went to high school with in Wellington and they’ve all come over together just to be here. It’s so good.

“The Aussies have been complaining about the short pitch bowling but they’ve been doing it for decades. It’s a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.

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“We don’t sledge that much, there’s a little niggle here and there but they’re a great bunch of guys, the way they go about their business is something everyone is really proud of."

Nearby sat a group of six friends from Hamilton on New Zealand's north island. They had polo shirts with a collage of Smith's face and that of Warner's with pieces of sandpaper printed all around them.

Their Australian friend Hannah designed the polo shirts.

"I just wanted the most wounding thing I could find and I apologise to all Australians, it had to be done," Hannah said.