Close Australia 558 for 8 dec (Ponting 157*, Langer 123, Hayden 91, Vettori 5-138) drew with New Zealand 243 for 7 (Fleming 71, Gillespie 3-45)
Scorecard

After the Lazarus-like Brisbane Test, not even the most weatherbeaten cynic was going to write this match off until it was well and truly over, but El Nino eventually had the last word on yet another soggy day.

New Zealand were still 162 runs away from saving the follow-on when Glenn McGrath zeroed his first ball of the morning into Stephen Fleming's pads. After what seemed an age - actually it was a good five seconds - Steve Bucknor raised the fatal finger (197-5). It was McGrath's first wicket of the match, and just the tonic he needed after an untypically flat display. For 18 overs he and Gillespie bowled with fire and vim, as Australia gave a typical impression of a team that still felt they could win.

If rain hadn't intervened, it's just possible that they might have won. Though the loss of Fleming sent Craig McMillan scurrying for his shell, Chris Cairns's arrival sent rumours of a deal ricocheting around the Bellerive Oval. He crunched his first ball through the covers for four, and batted with reckless abandon thereafter, offering a straight(ish) and heavy bat to anything McGrath could offer. Ponting missed two run-out opportunities, one to each batsman, and overall it looked as if Cairns was keen to make as many runs in the innings as possible, irrespective of the follow-on.

McMillan eventually died by his own lack of sword, shouldering arms once too often as Gillespie speared one into the top of off stump (219-6), and when Cairns went six balls later, to a stunning one-handed catch by Gilchrist off McGrath, the follow-on was a very real danger.

But Adam Parore and Daniel Vettori saw to it that there was no further collapse, and they were just beginning to look comfortable when the heavens opened again. Waugh, thinking it was just a passing squall, was loath to leave the field, and loitered like a green-capped King Canute as the groundstaff pulled the covers on. After four hours of steady drizzle, even Waugh could not conjure a result from a squelchy mess of a match.

It was all a far cry from the opening day, when Australia plundered 411 runs for minimal casualties. But the weather permitted only around 100 runs a day from then on. New Zealand won't be too worried - before the series they'd have taken 0-0 going into the final Test at Perth like a shot. The Kiwis were seen as a pleasant hors d'oeuvre before Australia tuck into roast Springbok next month, but they are proving much less palatable than expected.

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

New Zealand 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Matthew Bell, 3 Mathew Sinclair, 4 Stephen Fleming (capt), 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Adam Parore (wk), 8 Chris Cairns, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Shane Bond.

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com.

Blow by Blow How the day unfolded: the long version

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