Close New Zealand 29 for 0 (Richardson 10*, Bell 6*), Australia 486 for 9 dec (Gilchrist 118, Cairns 5-146)
Scorecard

It hasn't happened since October 1999 in Colombo, but the prospect of Australia drawing their first Test in 24 matches loomed larger after another dank, depressing, stop-start day at the Gabba. Only 11.4 overs were possible, making it 38.4 in the last two days.

There was at least time for Adam Gilchrist to complete a glistening fourth Test hundred, but the resolute manner in which Mark Richardson and Matthew Bell withstood a working-over from Jason Gillespie on a sweaty surface suggested that this would be no cakewalk for Australia. With Chris Cairns at No.7 and Daniel Vettori (who has four Test 50s) at No.10 the Kiwis bat a long way down, and if they make the 287 they need to avoid the follow-on even this rapacious Aussie lot will struggle to force victory.

After Steve Waugh slightly surprisingly chose to bat on this morning, Brett Lee went in the second over of the day, caught behind off Cairns for 61 to end an eighth-wicket partnership of 137 with Gilchrist. Lee had a face like thunder as he left the crease, and with good reason. Not only was it another duff decision from Daryl Harper - Lee's bat was nowhere near the ball as Cairns cut him in half with a short one - but Lee was one short of his highest Test score, 62 against West Indies on this ground in 2000-01.

Exit Lee, enter Gillespie, who rubbed New Zealand's noses in it with an unorthodox cameo that actually included some attacking strokes, including one tremendous thump over midwicket off Craig McMillan. With Gilchrist also lacing him back over his head for four, McMillan's first-day heroics were beginning to seem a long time ago: then he took 3 for 17 off seven overs; but his last seven overs had yielded 0 for 48.

Gilchrist smoothly picked up where he left off on the second day and reached three figures in the first over after lunch. That made it three hundreds in the first Test of Australia's last three series for Gilchrist: he hammered 122 at Mumbai and 152 at Edgbaston. The fact that this century was relatively sedate and came off only 143 balls spoke volumes.

Gilchrist also equalled Ian Healy's record for Test centuries by an Australian wicketkeeper - but whereas Healy had 181 innings for his four tons, this was only Gilchrist's 31st. He savaged Cairns twice more through midwicket before spooning a third attempt to the substitute Lou Vincent. Gilchrist had made 118 and despite extremely defensive fields, his last 94 runs had come off only 90 balls.

As Steve Waugh put them out of their misery by declaring, a demoralised New Zealand side looked fit to be fed to Glenn McGrath and Gillespie. But after a torrid start in which Gillespie beat the bat almost at will, Richardson and Bell restored some semblance of order before the rain intervened for the final time.

The left-handed Richardson showed plenty of gumption, tucking McGrath crisply off his legs for four in an unusually ragged over that went for 19. And though Bell was a little jittery - he might have been lbw first ball as he walked across an offcutter from Gillespie - he managed to hang on. It wasn't pretty, but on a miserable day that was more Manchester than Brisbane, aesthetics were the last thing on New Zealand minds.

Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Mark Waugh, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wkt), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath

New Zealand 1 Matthew Bell, 2 Mark Richardson, 3 Mathew Sinclair, 4 Stephen Fleming (capt), 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Chris Cairns, 8 Adam Parore (wkt), 9 Dion Nash, 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Shayne O'Connor

Rob Smyth is a staff writer with Wisden.com.

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