Close Australia 294 for 6 (M Hayden 136, J Langer 104, C McMillan 3-13)
Scorecard

When Australia went into tea on 199 for 0 New Zealand's captain Stephen Fleming, who won the toss and elected to field, was sitting on the worst decision since Clive Sinclair decided to go ahead with the C5.

Then Matthew Hayden, who had batted imperiously for 136 on his home ground, took on one short ball too many and Australia completely lost the plot. Six wickets went down for 39 runs, all the product of loose strokes. At 224 for 0 it was set up for the middle order to play their shots, but the Australians persisted in trying to run before they could walk even though wickets were tumbling around them.

Although Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne belatedly restored order, honours ended just about even as Australia closed on 294 for 6, but New Zealand will know that while Gilchrist is there, any score is possible. The sober manner in which he played out the closing overs suggested he meant business, though he looked fortunate to survive a tight lbw shout by Craig McMillan just before the close.

Gilchrist wouldn't have needed to put his pads on had Australia not thrown away a great position. Losing two wickets to Chris Cairns was fair enough, but losing four to Nathan Astle and McMillan was just careless.

The rot started when Astle bottled things up either side of tea. Frustrated, the batsmen looked to play their shots at the other end. Hayden top-edged a pull (224 for 1), Ricky Ponting miscued an attempted cut that spooned to gully (233 for 2) and Mark Waugh was lbw for 0 playing all round a straight one from Astle (235 for 3).

Then McMillan (7-1-13-3) came to the party. Brought on to rough up Steve Waugh in a none-too-subtle Bodyline variant, McMillan sent down a barrage of short stuff, all of which Waugh ignored or took on the body. When he finally pitched one up Waugh was suckered, edging an expansive drive to Adam Parore (256 for 4).

In his next over McMillan had Damien Martyn caught at point airily slapping at another short one (260 for 5), and seven balls later Justin Langer, who made a dogged ninth Test century after hardly middling anything in the morning session, unerringly picked out Daniel Vettori behind square. McMillan, who before this match had 18 wickets in 31 Tests, had taken 3 for 5 in 17 balls and Australia, in the blink of an eye, were 263 for 6.

The surreal air was compounded by the fact that New Zealand's bowlers had hardly beaten the bat in the first two sessions of play. Langer should have been out lbw in the first over of the day, and McMillan unluckily grassed a half-chance when Hayden was 83, but apart from that there was an inevitable air to proceedings as Langer and Hayden put together Australia's highest opening partnership against New Zealand. It was also their second big one in succession, following the 158 they put on at The Oval. Their average opening partnership now stands at 191.

Hayden was majestic. While Langer fudged around to start with Hayden took the game by the scruff, reaching 50 off 54 balls and slamming 65 of the first 85 runs. Conviction and authority are often lacking in Hayden's game when he plays in Australia (before today he averaged 31 at home, 43 overseas) but not here. His rough-house treatment of Vettori – he clipped his first ball for six and took 14 off the first over – was evidence of a man on top of his game.

Just as they did with Phil Tufnell, Langer and Hayden got after Vettori in a calculated assault. Vettori's economy rate in Tests is 2.5 runs per over, but without bowling particularly badly, he went for double that, conceding 60 off 12 overs.

There was some nip in the pitch in the morning session, but New Zealand's seamers were far too zealous, attempting to force the issue when they needed patience. By the time they realised that line-and-length was the answer, the pitch had flattened and the horse had bolted. McMillan was the last person anyone would have expected to bring it back under control.

Rob Smyth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

Follow Australia's progress live on Wisden.com Regular updates throughout the day from our reporter Rob Smyth and expert commentator Ian Healy, plus the Wisden Verdict soon after the close. Play resumes at 10am Brisbane time, midnight in the UK, 5.30am in India or 4pm on the west coast of the USA.

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