Cairns does an all-round trick for Kiwis

Cairns, who took four wickets in 16 balls on the first morning, removed Taylor in his first over. Taylor, having played some splendid cover drives in his short stay and in form after a first innings century, failed to get to the pitch of a Cairns delivery and hit it on the up to Nathan Astle, one of two gullies deployed by Stephen Fleming.

After Fleming had played a captain’s innings of 91, debutant Craig McMillan and Cairns hit half centuries as New Zealand fell 24 runs short of the Australian first innings. Any hopes of a New Zealand lead was cut short by leg spinner Shane Warne who claimed three wickets to check the visitors’ progress.

New Zealand lost its last four wickets for 32 runs, fast bowler Glenn McGrath accounting for the last two, including Cairns, forced to play on. While McMillan showed great maturity in handling Warne and McGrath, Cairns lived up to his reputation for bludgeoning stroke play, launching a well calculated assault once settled in.

Easing batting conditions worked to New Zealand’s advantage as they crossed the 300-run mark for the first time in five first-class innings on tour.

However, the day belonged to 21-year-old McMillan, who reached his fifty with a majestically straight driven six off Warne. Warne had the last laugh, when he had McMillan trapped leg before wicket shortly afterwards, first of his three wicket in a 17-over spell after lunch.

Fleming, an elegant left hander, was unlucky to miss out on a well deserved hundred, trapped leg before wicket by medium paceman Michael Kasprowicz, armed with the second new ball.

Fleming provided the backbone of the New Zealand total, batting for 282 minutes with unwavering concentration and sharing three innings building stands.

Dropped on 21 by Mark Waugh off fast bowler Glenn McGrath, Fleming starred in a 98-run stand with Blair Pocock (57), 39 with Vettori (14) and 37 with McMillan.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st innings) 373

NEW ZEALAND (1st innings, overnight 134 for three): Brian Young c Taylor b Kasprowicz 1, Blair Pocock c Taylor b Warne 57, Nathan Astle run out 12, Stephen Fleming lbw b Kasprowicz 91, Daniel Vettori c Steve Waugh b Blewett 14, Craig McMillan lbw b Warne 54, Chris Cairns b McGrath 64, Adam Parore c Taylor b Warne 12, Chris Harris b Warne 13, Simon Doull not out 2, Geoff Allott c Elliott b McGrath 4, Extras (4b, 4lb, 17nb) 25. Total: 349Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-36, 3-134, 4-173, 5-210, 6-279, 7-317, 8-343, 9-343.

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 32.2-6-96-2 (10nb), Michael Kasprowicz 24-6-57-2 (6nb), Shane Warne 42-13-106-4, Paul Reiffel 21-6-53-0 (1nb), Mark Waugh 7-2-18-0, Greg Blewett 6-2-11-1.

AUSTRALIA (2nd innings): Matthew Elliott batting 7, Mark Taylor c Astle b Cairns 16, Ian Healy batting 1; Extras (1nb): 1 Total: (for one wicket) 25.

Fall of wicket: 1-24.

Bowling: Simon Doull 5-1-10-0, Geoff Allott 5-2-10-0 (1nb), Chris Cairns 3-2-5-1, Daniel Vettori 3-3-0-0.