BRISBANE, Nov 23: Mitchell Johnson returned career-best figures as Australia needed only 48 minutes on Sunday’s fourth day to wrap up a comprehensive 149-run victory over New Zealand in the first Test at the Gabba.

Johnson claimed five wickets and Stuart Clark, who ended up with four victims, sliced through the tail as New Zealand were bundled out for 177 in the second innings.

The match finished so early that it gave the satisfied local spectators plenty of time to head off for a Sunday brunch. They had filed into the stadium knowing that a long day was improbable but the swiftness of the finish was still rather startling. New Zealand began the day needing 184 runs for victory with six wickets down but the already unlikely scenario became completely unfeasible when they lost skipper Daniel Vettori and Ross Taylor to Johnson for the addition of 18 runs.

Vettori fell in almost identical fashion to the first innings when he drove to point and Andrew Symonds jumped to take a one-handed catch above his head.

Taylor followed in Johnson’s next over when he drove at a ball that moved across him and edged behind to Brad Haddin for 75. When Clark added Iain O’Brien, who lobbed a simple chance to Michael Clarke at point, the score was 164 for nine and the only remaining points of interest were whether Johnson would collect his fifth and Chris Martin would make his 24th Test duck.

Martin managed to squeeze a single off Clark — and then watched as Tim Southee pounded a pair of sixes straight down the ground — but his bat returned to near hologram status when he was bowled from the first straight ball he received from Johnson. The stumps rattled, Australia celebrated and it left Johnson with five for 39, match figures of nine for 69, and the Man-of-the-Match award.

He was perhaps fortunate to receive the honour ahead of Simon Katich, whose unbeaten 131 was a match-winning effort on a pitch where only two other batsmen posted half-centuries. Johnson was Australia’s leading wicket-taker on the tour of India but he was still pleased to return to more familiar and friendly conditions after the lifeless surfaces he had encountered recently.

“It is good to get back on a bouncy fast track,” Johnson said after the match. “I felt pretty good over in India. I just try and hit the deck as hard as I can and that’s what I did out here, so I’m feeling pretty good about my bowling at the moment.”

The challenge for the fast bowlers will be greater on a flatter pitch at the Adelaide Oval, where the final match of the two-Test series begins on Friday.

Australia will likely squeeze the off-spinner Jason Krejza into the side while New Zealand have serious questions over their batting and could bolster the line-up by including Peter Fulton.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 214 (M.J. Clarke 98; T.G. Southee 4-63).

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 156 (M.G. Johnson 4-30).

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings) 268 (S.M. Katich 131 not out).

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 143-6):

A.J. Redmond c and b Clark 10

J.M. How c Ponting b Lee 0

J.D. Ryder lbw b Johnson 24

L.R.P.L. Taylor c Haddin b Johnson 75

B.B. McCullum lbw b Clark 3

D.R. Flynn b Johnson 29

G.D. Elliott b Clark 0

D.L. Vettori c Symonds b Johnson 10

T.G. Southee not out 12

I.E. O’Brien c Clarke b Clark 3

C.S. Martin b Johnson 1

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-2, NB-3) 10

TOTAL (all out, 54.3 overs) 177

FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-30, 3-40, 4-49, 5-133, 6-143, 7-160, 8-161, 9-164.

BOWLING: Lee 9-0-53-1 (3nb); Clark 17-5-43-4; Johnson 17.3-6-39-5 (2w); Watson 5-1-19-0; Symonds 4-0-12-0; Clarke 2-0-6-0.

RESULT: Australia won by 149 runs.

UMPIRES: B.R. Doctrove (West Indies) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: R.J. Tucker (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mitchell Johnson.

SECOND TEST: Adelaide, Nov 28-Dec 2.

—Agencies