There was a sense of amazement at what Glenn Turner and the New Zealand team were able to achieve at Lancaster Park 50 years ago.
News of New Zealand’s maiden test win over Australia and Turner’s back-to-back tons even brought Parliament to a brief halt.
A motion was put before the House to "warmly congratulate" the team.
Back at the venue, groups of hairy, bearded young men mobbed Turner and Ken Wadsworth moments after Wadsworth had blazed a boundary through cover to seal victory.
Wadsworth had held the pose long enough for the photographers to document the moment and the photo ran on the front page of the Otago Daily Times the next day.
But make no mistake: Turner was the star.
He carved out a first-innings century from granite-like determination. He played, he missed and missed some more.
The 76-year-old will tell you it was not his finest knock.
But his grafting 101 was vital in what was shaping up as a very tight contest.
The Hadlees — Richard and Dayle — took four wickets apiece in Australia’s second innings to leave New Zealand chasing 228 to win.
Turner backed up with a more fluent knock of 110 not out to guide his side to a historic five-wicket win.
He also became the first New Zealand batter to score a century in each innings of a test.
There was plenty to celebrate, but perhaps people were a little more reserved in 1970s.
"Looking at the way guys get excited today, even when they’ve just taken one wicket and they still need to get nine, I’m going to be sounding, oh, I don’t know, you decide," Turner said.
"But one was conscious of trying to stay level through success and failure. And I trained myself up to react like that.
"But as you take your pads off in the dressing room, you might allow yourself a little bit of a purr. But that’s it, really.
"Obviously it was quite nice to do it, but the Australian captain was not particularly gracious in defeat."
Ian Chappell captained the tourists and there was an incident earlier in the game that left a strong impression on Turner.
Brian Hastings had lofted a shot away. The umpire had believed it went for six. But Turner had clearly seen it bounce before it sailed over the picket fence and into the stand.
He approached the umpire in the spirit of good sportsmanship and suggested he change his call.
Chappell had got the wrong idea. He had "sprinted up from slip" and gave everyone a spray "of pretty abusive language".
The New Zealand team requested an apology, which was never forthcoming.
THERE was another tense moment in the game.
Turner was 99 not out at stumps on day two.
He had been 99 not out overnight once before in his test career "but I wouldn’t say I got used to it".
It took Turner almost 30 minutes to bring up the milestone the next morning and he was out shortly after.
"It was a low-scoring game and the ball nipped around a bit. I prided myself on knowing where my off stump was and my ability to let the ball go, yet I played and missed quite a lot.
"That first innings was only memorable because of its significance. But in terms of one of my better hundreds, I would say it certainly wasn’t.
"It was one of the most important ones but not the best. In the second innings, things had levelled out a wee bit with the track and I played better as a consequence.
"But I had played a lot more confident and appealing innings than either of those."
Turner had notched more than 250 first-class games before the famous test win, so he was not as overawed as some of his team-mates were by the Australians.
His experience in county cricket had set him up perfectly for the challenge, and he had been in top form.
"It was easier for me back then because I was playing day-in and day-out [in England] whereas in New Zealand I think we were only playing about five first-class games and, in Australia, I think they were only playing about seven, or thereabouts.
"It wasn’t a lot of cricket and so, I know this sounds conceited, but I looked at the Australians as being quite naive tactically.
"That helped me not to be overawed by an opposition that was talented, certainly, but naive tactically."
Turner, who spoke to the Otago Daily Times before the start of the second test between New Zealand and Australia at Hagley Oval, was not convinced by arguments the current New Zealand teams were just as overawed by Australia as some of his old team-mates.
"At one stage, we didn’t have a player under 30, so they should be experienced enough. We are seeing some new faces come in now.
"But if you take out the 170-odd that [Cameron] Green got, most of their players were looking pretty ordinary as well, so I can’t 100% agree that our guys are overawed by the Australians, but I don’t know. I’m not close enough to it."
