Martyn, Gilchrist bail out Aussies

Then Steve Waugh’s men applied the blowtorch late in the day to have the Kiwis on the backfoot at 58 for three at stumps, effectively 38 for three, with three days’ play left.

At the close on a day where 306 runs were scored and 12 wickets fell, Craig Spearman was batting on 29 with Nathan Astle on two.

Colin Miller was Australia’s hero in the Kiwi second innings with the wickets of Mathew Sinclair (24) and captain Stephen Fleming (2) along with his direct throw that ran out opener Matthew Horne for a duck.

But the Australians can thank the resolve of Martyn, who was stranded on his highest Test score as Australia counter-attacked aggressively to turn around a likely sizeable innings deficit into a small but psychologically-important lead.

Australia fought back with a blistering 119-run sixth-wicket partnership in 91 minutes by Martyn and fellow West Australian Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist crashed 16 fours in his rollicking 75 before he holed out to Horne off spinner Paul Wiseman. Martyn ran out of batting partners to remain unbeaten on 89 with Australia dismissed at tea for 252, a lead of 20 runs. Martyn had hit his previous highest score of 78 in the second Test.

Left-arm seamer Shayne O’Connor finished with best figures of 5-51 off 15.5 overs and Chris Cairns took 3-80 off 22 overs.

It was a tremendous fightback by Australia, who were all at sea in the morning session as O’Connor and Cairns dominated with lively movement off the pitch.

At one stage, Australia were staring at their lowest Test score in New Zealand of 103 in Auckland in 1985-86, before partnerships of 75 in 65 minutes between Martyn and Mark Waugh (28) and the century stand between Martyn and Gilchrist recovered the situation.

It was an outstanding morning for New Zealand bowlers with O’Connor snaring the wickets of Michael Slater (2) and Shane Warne (10), both to dubious leg before wicket decisions given by Indian umpire A Jayaprakash.

Cairns bowled Justin Langer off his glove for four and got the priceless wicket of captain Steve Waugh for three, edging to first slip where Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming celebrated his 27th birthday with a great two-handed low catch.

Scoreboard

New Zealand (1st innings): 232

Australia (1st innings; overnight 4-1): M Hayden c Parore b O’Connor 2, M Slater lbw b O’Connor 2, S Warne lbw b O’Connor 10, J Langer b Cairns 4, M Waugh c Sinclair b Wiseman 28, S Waugh c Fleming b Cairns 3, D Martyn not out 89, A Gilchrist c Horne b Wiseman 75, B Lee c McMillan b Cairns 8, G McGrath b O’Connor 7, C Miller c Tuffey b O’Connor 2; Extras: (b4, lb6, nb12) 22. Total: (all out in 61.5 overs) 252

Fall of wickets:1-3, 2-16, 3-17, 4-25, 5-29, 6-104, 7-223, 8-233, 9-248

Bowling: Cairns 22-7-80-3, O’Connor 15.5-5-51-5, Tuffey 9-0-75-0, Astle 4-3-5-0, Wiseman 11-3-31-2

New Zealand (2nd innings): M Horne run out 0, C Spearman batting 29, M Sinclair lbw b Miller 24, S Fleming c Gilchrist b Miller 2, N Astle batting 2; Extras: (nb1) 1. Total (for 3 wkts in 33 overs) 58

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-49, 3-53

Bowling: McGrath 6-3-11-0, Lee 8-0-19-0, Miller 11-4-20-2, Warne 8-4-8-0.