Hobart Test, Day 5, Close
Monday, November 26, 2001

Australia this morning looked like a team who wanted to win. They came out all guns blazing, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath bowled their best spells of the match, and New Zealand were in some trouble when the rain came. The wicket seemed to have spiced up overnight and there was plenty of seam movement, especially for Gillespie.

McGrath produced a beauty first up that got the wicket of Fleming, and you could tell by his reaction how much he needed it. It looked for all money that umpire Bucknor wasn't going to raise his finger, and McGrath had already resigned himself to the fact, so when he finally did, Glenn was delighted.

He did well after that. He's been patient and consistent all through the match, but today he straightened his line a bit, after being fractionally too short and wide yesterday. I felt sorry for Fleming, though. He deserved a century, and it would have done him and his team the world of good if he'd gone on.

Craig McMillan played a really good innings – completely out of character, but batsmen tend to enjoy it when they play something other than their natural game. He'll take a lot of confidence from this knock, as he'll have proved to himself that he can play the backs-to-the-wall role, and maybe take it on to another game. But it is possible that he got a little too stuck in his new frame of mind, and didn't mix it enough. He tried to leave as much as he could, which was good, but it meant Gillespie was able to home in on that perfect line-and-length without fear of being attacked.

Chris Cairns, though, played a completely different type of innings, and there were rumours flying around the ground of some sort of a deal. Steve Waugh may have said, "Look, we're going to set you up with a target, whether you get the follow-on or not," and so Cairns was out to hurry things along and get as many runs in this innings as possible. Who knows? He probably knew more than we did – let's hope so, because otherwise it was a pretty irresponsible knock.

I can't see New Zealand getting away with another draw at Perth, as the conditions there are like nowhere else. Australia's batsmen are better equipped to cope, and their attack is tailor-made for the extra bounce. But New Zealand won't have expected to go there on level terms, so they'll show a lot of heart. I'd assume that the rain won't be an issue, but you never know. The weather forecast seems good at the moment, though.

But the bottom line is that Australia must get a series win. With the new ICC World Championship, Tests count for points, and every missed opportunity is costly. South Africa are coming up soon, and Australia will be desperate to go into that series with a victory under their belts.

South Africa reckon they have a serious chance of victory over the two series, and I agree. They have a few unknowns in the top order, and their support bowlers are a worry, but I'd give them a 60:40 chance of pulling off an upset. For Australia, the key is to target the top three. Gibbs and Kirsten are in top form at the moment, but they've been susceptible in the past. And the middle order – Kallis, Pollock, Boucher – have never really been under real pressure before. Of the bowlers, Pollock is truly world-class, Donald might still be. But there are question-marks about Hayward, Ntini and Klusener, and they haven't got a quality spinner.

Australia are still favourites, but not by as much as they'd like.

Ian Healy made a record 395 dismissals in 119 Tests for Australia. His comments will be appearing on Wisden.com at the end of every session in the series. He was talking to Andrew Miller.

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Day 4, Close: Follow-on is the key

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