da supremo： Australia came out of a day in which 306 runs were scored and 12 wicketsfell maintaining the advantage they established in the first session of thefirst day – but only after seeing their first innings follow a disturbinglysimilar pattern to New
Chris Rosie01-Apr-2000Australia came out of a day in which 306 runs were scored and 12 wicketsfell maintaining the advantage they established in the first session of thefirst day – but only after seeing their first innings follow a disturbinglysimilar pattern to New Zealand’s.A top-order collapse, two mid-order partnerships and little from the lowerorder saw the Australian first innings close with just a 20-run advantage.In the process, Damien Martyn with an undefeated 89 and the New Zealandleft-armer, Shayne O’Connor (five for 51), returned their best testperformances.Australia opened the second day under a clear Hamilton sky at 4 for 1. Inthe fifth over of the morning, the left-armer Shayne O’Connor extracted legbefore decisions from Umpire Jayapakash against first an uncomfortableSlater for 2 and then Warne for 10 with identical deliveries, pitchingcentre and moving off the wicket.At the other end, Cairns was not about to be left out of the action. In thenext over, he got through Langer’s defence, the hint of an inside edgeassisting the ball into the stumps.Langer’s departure for 4 with the score at 25 brought the Waugh brotherstogether to deal with the lift and movement the New Zealand bowlers weregenerating. Steve Waugh failed to. With the score on 29 and his own total 3,he got an edge to Cairns, Stephen Fleming taking a good catch low down atfirst slip, his 84th in tests.Damien Martyn joined Mark Waugh and had an early life, getting just enoughon a ball from Cairns to shave the stumps and go away to the fine legboundary. Daryl Tuffey’s first ball in Test cricket took the edge of MarkWaugh’s bat and fell short of second slip.Waugh and Martyn continued the resurrection job bringing the 50 up in the19th over. O’Connor resumed in place of Cairns at the grandstand end in the18th over of the morning but at the other end Tuffey was learning therequirements of test cricket; too full and Martyn straight drove, too wideand he cut past gully. Thirteen came from the debutante’s fifth over and hisfive-over spell went for 36.O’Connor was given the same message. Too full and he was driven, too shortand he was pulled, too short and he was cut. The second over of his spellwent for 18 as the 100 came up in 115 minutes.Nathan Astle with his medium pace took over from Tuffey in the 21st over ofthe morning with Paul Wiseman’s off spin introduced from the grandstandcompleting a double change. The change of pace made an almost immediateimpression. Waugh, on 28, played across Wiseman, the ball popped up high andMathew Sinclair under the helmet at short leg took the catch. Thepartnership with Martyn had contributed 74 to a total of 104.Adam Gilchrist was not about to be tied down, lustily straight driving bothbowlers back over their heads. Australia went to lunch at 118 for 6, adding114 runs in the morning session for the loss of five wickets.After lunch, Cairns immediately getting Gilchrist swinging at a short one,catching the edge and going high over Adam Parore behind the stumps to theboundary. At the other end, O’Connor was giving nothing away, at timesfinding Umpire Jayaprakash less accommodating towards his leg-before appealsthan he had been in the morning session.Martyn brought up his 50 in 110 minutes, 40 them from boundaries. The 150came up in the 41st over of the innings, similarly the 50 partnership in 49minutes.Tuffey replaced Cairns in the 39th over of the day and was immediately putto the sword, Gilchrist bringing up his 50 in 61 minutes, like Martyn with10 fours, as 15 came from the over.Fleming turned for relief to spin at the city end, replacing O’Connor withWiseman. They could not halt the Australian charge, the 200 coming up in the45th over of the innings, the last 50 in six overs. The Australian pairproduced their 100 partnership in 73 minutes off 119 balls.The drinks break brought its usual lapse in concentration – this time onboth sides. With no addition to his score, Martyn stepped out of his groundto Wiseman and missed – and so did Parore. At the other end, Tuffey wasfinding his debut turning into a nightmare, Gilchrist driving him withrelish as a further 14 came off his first over after the break.However, Wiseman ensured that Gilchrist went no further, in the fourth overafter drinks inducing him to sweep for Matthew Horne to take a good catchcoming in from the boundary forward of square leg. Gilchrist’s rollicking 75had come off 80 balls in 92 minutes with 16 fours and contributed to a 119-run partnership with Martyn.Brett Lee was Martyn’s new partner and almost immediately had a life asParore failed to pick up an edge off Wiseman. His arrival also coincidedwith the replacement of the luckless Tuffey with Cairns, resulting in ashort stay for the Australian speedster. On 8 with the score having justpassed the New Zealand total, he cut Cairns directly to Craig McMillan inthe gully.Glenn McGrath, promoted from number 11, joined Martyn on 79 and fast runningout of partners. The pace bowler’s resistance was solid for 20 minutes asMartyn inched his way towards his century. However, in the 55th over of theday, Fleming replaced Wiseman with O’Connor at the city end andhad immediate success, cleaning out the tailender.Colin Miller joined Martyn, still 13 short of his first century, with thescore at 248. The new arrival got off to a shaky start, Martyn turning downthe opportunity of a single at the end of the over and Miller virtuallyrunning two on his own as the return went to the wrong end.However, the reprieve was short, Miller taking a couple of big swings,surviving one only to be caught from the next by Tuffey at mid-wicket offO’Connor, leaving Martyn stranded on 89, albeit with some consolation thathe had passed his previous highest Test score of 78.O’Connor finished with his best figures in Test cricket, five for 51, whileCairns ended with three for 80.The increasingly well-established firm of McGrath and Lee opened theAustralian attack after tea with New Zealand facing a 20-run deficit on thefirst innings. Craig Spearman and Matthew Horne, in ideal battingconditions, did the cause no good at all. They attempted a quick single inthe third over, Horne failing to beat the direct throw from Miller in thecovers and being given the red light without troubling the scorers.Mathew Sinclair joined Spearman with the deficit still 17. The livelybatting of the afternoon session was replaced by watchful application;bowlers trying to tempt outside off, batsmen not biting.However, Waugh kept ringing the bowling changes in the final session, andthey worked. After giving Lee four overs from the grandstand end, hereintroduced Miller, this time in off-spin mode. In his second over hebrought Sinclair’s stay to an end, leg before for 24 with the total at 49.Stephen Fleming joined Spearman and the pair brought up the 50 in the nextover, coming from 139 balls. But the New Zealand captain was not around tosee any more landmarks, given out by Umpire Jayaprakash caught behind downthe leg side as Miller picked up his second wicket of the innings.With Fleming gone for 2 and the score on 53, Nathan Astle became Spearman’snext partner, the immediate task being to survive the eight overs leftbefore stumps. This they duly did, New Zealand ending the day on 58 forthree, Spearman 29 and Astle 2.Miller took the two wickets that fell, leaving New Zealand with a 38-runadvantage and seven wickets in hand going into the last day.