Kiwis fight Warne attack

HOBART, Dec 1: New Zealand's last wicket pair of Simon Doull and Shayne O'Connor survived 64 balls to earn a draw and deprive Australia of ...

HOBART, Dec 1: New Zealand8217;s last wicket pair of Simon Doull and Shayne O8217;Connor survived 64 balls to earn a draw and deprive Australia of a 3-0 clean sweep at Bellerive Oval today.

Australian paceman Simon Cook dropped Doull off Shane Warne with 39 balls remaining.

New Zealand finished on 223 for nine, chasing 288 for victory, as the last pair batted out 38 minutes on a turning pitch.

The visitors made a flying start to their run chase, which started when Australia declared on 138 for two at lunch.

Opener Matt Horne 31 and Nathan Astle 40 raced to 72, including the first 50 off 31 balls, before the initial setback.

Once Horne was trapped leg before wicket by medium paceman Paul Reiffel, panic set in.

From a well set 93 for one, New Zealand lost their way losing 3-2 in 13 balls, two of them to Warne, who finished with 5-88. New Zealand, reduced to 152 for six soon after tea, recovered to 218 for six thanks to some energetic batting by Adam Parore and Roger Twose.

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Twose backed up too far at the bowler8217;s end and was run out by a Taylor-Steve Waugh combination.

Soon after, he was followed by Parore who fell to a brilliant outfield catch by Matthew Elliott at backward square leg.

Australia won the first Test in Brisbane by 186 runs and followed it with an innings and 70-run win in Perth.

It was Australia8217;s eighth straight series win under Mark Taylor since he took over from Allan Border in 1994.

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Taylor, dumped from Australia one-day squad, has led Australia to series win over West Indies and England twice, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and now New Zealand in 36 Tests as captain.

Taylor, who scored a century in the first Test, was voted man of the series while Blewett, who scored 56 in Australia8217;s second innings to add to the first innings 99, was named man of the match.

Australia has drawn only five Tests during this period while losing a one-off Test to India last year in the sub-continent.

It was Warne8217;s 12th five-wicket haul in 61 Tests and his first in the series. He finished with 19 wickets at an average of 25.05.

Scoreboard

Australia 1st innings 400

New Zealand 1st innings 251-6 decl

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Australia 2nd innings, overnight 14-0: Mark Taylor not out 66, Mark Waugh lbw b O8217;Connor 9, Greg Blewett b Vettori 56, Steve Waugh not out 2; Extras 4b, 1lb: 5

Total: for two declared 138

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-106.

Bowling: Simon Doull 8-1-28-0, Shayne O8217;Connor 9-1-32-1, Daniel Vettori 14-1-48-1, Nathan Astle 7-0-25-0.

New Zealand second innings: M Horne lbw Reiffel 31, N Astle b Reiffel 40, C Cairns st Healy b Warne 18, S Fleming st Healy b Warne 0, B Young c Ponting b Warne 10, C McMillan c Taylor b Warne 41, A Parore c Elliott b Warne 1, R Twose run out 29, D Vettori c Healy b S Waugh 3, S Doull not out 1, S O8217;Connor not out 0; Extras b2, lb7: 9

Total: forn nine wickets 223

Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-93, 3-93, 4-95, 5-137, 6-152, 7-218, 8-221, 9-222Bowling: Kasprowicz 3-0-33-0, Cook 4-0-17-0, Warne 28-6-88-5, Reiffel 14-2-47-2, M Waugh 6-1-19-0, S Waugh 6-4-10-1.

Result: Draw. Australia won the series two-nil.