Australia wrest initiative as Kiwis make slow start
AUCKLAND, March 26: Australia shattered a valiant New Zealand start to the third Test on Saturday seizing the initiative with three late wickets to have the Black Caps at 199 for five at the close of the first day’s play.
It was a rapid turnaround of fortune after New Zealand had cautiously made their way to 179 for two as Hamish Marshall and Stephen Fleming amassed a 126-run partnership.
But they fell within four runs of each other and Lou Vincent came and went for two as Australia took the first-day honours after losing the toss.
The bowling honours were shared across the board, but the damage was prepared by spells of inspired miserly bowling from paceman Glenn McGrath who sent down 24 overs, including 17 maidens, and took one for 20.
With Australia leading 1-0, New Zealand made a shaky start in their bid to draw the series, slipping to 53 for two before Marshall with 76 and Fleming, who returned to run-scoring form with 65, gave the innings some backbone.
Marshall, in only his fifth Test, played with the patience of a veteran coupling a solid defence with flowing strokes through midwicket and behind point.
He had the added inspiration of sharing a 38-run partnership with his identical twin brother James who was making his Test debut.
Hamish Marshall’s 208 ball innings, which included nine fours, eventually came to an end when he popped a bat-pad catch straight into the hands of Ricky Ponting to give Warne his first wicket.
Fleming relished the opportunity to bat at his customary No 4 position after scoring just 36 runs from four innings as a makeshift opener in the first two Tests.
He came in with the score at 53 for two and received an ironic cheer from the crowd when he survived his first ball from McGrath who had claimed the New Zealand skipper in his last three innings.
Immediately after lunch, when Ponting curiously kept McGrath out of the attack, Fleming took to Warne hitting him for three fours and a six.
The only trouble he had against the champion leg-spinner was three overs before tea when umpire Jeremy Lloyds gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt in a close lbw appeal.
McGrath continued to cause headaches for Fleming and his second six-over spell included five maidens, as Fleming took 50 minutes and 33 balls to move from 32 to 33, however he was to be denied the New Zealand captain’s wicket.
That honour when to Michael Kasprowicz when Fleming’s concentration finally left him just four runs after Marshall’s dismissal and he chopped the ball onto his stumps.
Australia had snared two early wickets to have New Zealand 67 for two at lunch. New Zealand added an unbeaten 75 runs between lunch and tea, and in the final session Australia took three for 57.
Craig Cumming was the first wicket to fall, out for five when adjudged lbw after failing to offer a shot to a Jason Gillespie ball that appeared to seam and bounce sharply from outside off stump.
James Marshall opened his Test career by edging Gillespie for four through third man and otherwise looked comfortable against the swing of McGrath and Gillespie.
However, his undoing came in the 22nd over when he could not resist dabbing at McGrath outside the off stump and succeeded only in steering the ball straight to Matthew Hayden.
In an exceptional days work by McGrath it took a four from Nathan Astle in his final over of the day to lift the number of runs conceded above the number of maidens bowled.
At stumps Astle was not out seven with Brendon McCullum on one, while Gillespie had two for 50 and McGrath, Kasprowicz and Warne had one wicket each.
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings):
C.D. Cumming lbw b Gillespie 5
J.A.H. Marshall c Hayden b McGrath 29
H.J.H. Marshall lbw b Warne 76
S.P. Fleming b Kasprowicz 65
N.J. Astle not out 7
L. Vincent b Gillespie 2
B.B. McCullum not out 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, NB-2) 14
TOTAL: (for five wkts, 90 overs) 199
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-53, 3-179, 4-183,
5-194.
To bat: D.L. Vettori, J.E.C. Franklin, P.J. Wiseman, C.S. Martin.
