Close New Zealand 186 for 5 (N Astle 51*, C Cairns 25*) need a further 101 to avoid the follow-on
Scorecard

Just as this first Test was coming nicely to the boil, the rain that blighted the second and third days returned to spoil everyone's fun. Chris Cairns and Shane Warne were starting to slug it out in a compelling personal duel, Nathan Astle had just reached a patient 50, and New Zealand's pre-lunch torturer Jason Gillespie was primed to return. But with the Kiwis 101 away from avoiding the follow-on with five wickets in hand, a thunderstorm forced the players off half an hour before tea and they never returned. Even Australia will struggle to win from here, and it looks like they are going to have to stomach a Test draw for the first time since October 1999 - 24 games ago. Steve Waugh must be choking on his Maltesers. A result certainly looked likely when Gillespie hustled New Zealand to 55 for 4 in the morning session. After two stop-start days he looked like a man keen to make up for lost time, and with the fourth ball of the day he tempted Matthew Bell to edge an exemplary leg-cutter to third slip (36 for 1). Mark Richardson and Mathew Sinclair moved the score on to 51 for 1 before three wickets went down for four runs in 21 balls. After an industrious 26, Richardson played round a straight one and was plumb lbw, and a rampant Gillespie took his third wicket with the next delivery, a peach of a leg-cutter that New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming could only feather to Adam Gilchrist (51 for 3). It was Gillespie's 105th Test wicket, and 26 of them had been noughts - almost 25%. At that point he had figures of 10-6-18-3, and they didn't flatter him. With lift, movement both ways and a nip that belied his sub-90 mph delivery, he was close to unplayable. New Zealand were in real trouble four overs later when Sinclair, after a torturous 43-ball 3, was put out of his misery by a sensational piece of fielding from Ricky Ponting. Sinclair carved Brett Lee's first delivery towards point, where Ponting took a majestic two-handed catch diving to his left (55 for 4). It was right out of the top drawer. A collapse looked likely but Astle and Craig McMillan responded with real gumption in a fifth-wicket stand of 92. Astle started out playing his strokes but slowly eased himself into the anchor role, while McMillan made a typically aggressive 45, slog-sweeping Warne for a beefy six and creaming an out-of-sorts Glenn McGrath over mid-off for four. It took a rapid away-swinger from the impressive Lee to end their irksome stand, as McMillan hung his bat out and Warne took a simple catch at first slip (147 for 5). That brought Cairns to the crease, and Warne was brought on immediately at the Vulture Street end to renew their longstanding duel. Cairns won hands-down in New Zealand in 1999-2000 but Warne almost had him lbw with his second ball here when Cairns offered no shot. But Cairns soon found his range, spanking Warne through the covers for four and then launching him over extra cover in his next over. It was swashbuckling stuff as Cairns raced to 25 at a run-a-ball, and a decisive passage of play seemed to be looming. Sadly, the weather got there first. Rob Smyth is a staff writer with Wisden.com.

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