Melbourne: It's the biggest event on Australia's cricket calendar, the opening day of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground. It's not the time an Australia batsman would expect to be booed.

"Is that what happened? I have no idea," Steven Smith said on Thursday after scoring an unbeaten 77 on Day One of the second Test against New Zealand. Australia will resume on 257-4 after being sent in to bat. Walking to the crease at the fall of Australia's second wicket, in front of a record crowd of more than 80,000—the biggest attendance ever for a day's play in an Australia-New Zealand Test—Smith was greeted by a mixture of boos and cheers.