BRISBANE (Reuters)
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming paid tribute to his Australian rival Steve Waugh after his sporting declaration produced a thrilling end to the drawn first Test at the Gabba. New Zealand almost stole an unlikely victory making 274 for 6 after Waugh had set them a target of 284 off 57 overs to add some spice to a rain-marred game.

"It was a good challenge. The Australians might have handed back their advantage from the first few days but I'm convinced that's the way cricket's got to go to be entertaining," Fleming said at the end of an absorbing final day that produced 459 runs and 11 wickets.

"It was a good challenge. It was a lot of runs to score but you don't hand Test matches away. To score that many runs we had to earn them and would have deserved the win.

"We wanted to win it any way we could and Steve Waugh plays the same way.

"It's not about the old traditions, it's about breaking new moulds."

There had seemed little hope of a result at the start of play after heavy rain had disrupted the three previous days, but Fleming initiated the prospect of a result when he cut short New Zealand's first innings at lunch as soon as they reached 287 for 8 to avoid the follow-on.

The Australians, leading by 199 after amassing 486 for 9 in their first innings, then responded with 84 for 2 off 14 overs before Waugh made his declaration less than an hour after lunch.

"I was rapt that we got past the follow-on to give us a chance of making a game of it," Fleming said.

"We wanted to be in a position to declare but it was a catch-22 situation. We wanted to move the game along but not hand the game to Australia."

Fleming said he thought New Zealand were going to win when they reached 263 for 5, needing 21 with three overs left.

"I was feeling pretty good with what was happening out there. I was really confident and I found it quite exhilarating," Fleming said.

"We're disappointed not to come away with a win after the way things panned out but it gives us hope for the rest of the series.

"There's a lot of things to work on but our batting's been pretty good."

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