Cricket: Australia onslaught a bad omen

A last session assault by Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist made a mockery of New Zealand's chances of rolling Australia on a helpful wicket yesterday.

With Friday's play lost in the fog, New Zealand now face the galling prospect of batting to save this test after just one day's play. The one spot of optimism should be that by tomorrow afternoon, when they strap their pads on, they should have the best of the conditions.

Australia closed on 337-5 after Martyn cruised to his 12th test hundred - his seventh since the start of 2004 - and Gilchrist added a quick-fire 45 in the fading light as the two added 90 in just 89 balls.

Australia will now look to push on towards 500 and hope the New Zealand line-up crumbles twice in the face of pressure.

It was Martyn's first ton against New Zealand.

"A bit of luck," Martyn said was the key to his innings. "Everyone played and missed a lot, there were nicks that could have gone to hand. I'll put my hand up and say I played and missed a lot today. It could easily have been a different day."

That Australia should find themselves in such command is an indication of how poorly the seamers bowled with the second new ball and how dangerous a fired-up Gilchrist is.

"When you're sitting up the other end it's amazing. You see him hit the second or third [it was the fifth] ball for six over square leg and from a batting point of view you just laugh at him," centurion Martyn said.

Apart from the odd inspirational burst from James Franklin, the seamers were bitterly disappointing.

It was a different story early as first Chris Martin, then Daniel Vettori had the top three batting very un-Australian-like.

Franklin bowled an inspired spell in the second session but it wasn't enough.

"We let it slip a little too easily in that last session," Vettori bemoaned. "We knew what we had to do but when we came out after tea we gave them 30 pretty quick runs and that set the tone for the whole session and we could never really get back the initiative. When Gilchrist came in he just played how he plays."

Play started on time at 10am, which came as a great shock to anybody who had witnessed Wellington enveloped in a dishwater fog yesterday and had read reports predicting southerly inspired gloom until later today.

What was revealed when 12 layers of covers were removed was a pitch so brown it could have been airlifted in from Lahore, albeit a lot damper.

Stephen Fleming won the toss and inserted Australia. Chris Martin responded with his best spell since his last test on this ground.

He had Justin Langer on toast but the first ball of the test should have been a pointer to the way things were going to go.

The ball pitched on middle, moved away from Langer and straight through to the boundary as Brendon McCullum failed to pick the line.

In his next over he found Langer's edge but again McCullum didn't pick it up and instead Fleming had to go to his right and spilled it. In the next he found the edge again and it fell just short of Fleming. In the ninth over, another edge fell short of the slips cordon. The 11th, ditto. Are you beginning to get the picture?

Martin seemed deflated and never recovered.

Asked whether in retrospect New Zealand were right to insert Australia, Vettori said: "I think that first ball justified it didn't it? There was plenty in the wicket and we were disappointed they were 90-1."

At 163-4 things were looking much brighter with home-town boy Franklin making life difficult.

"Franklin bowled superbly," Martyn said, describing him as the stand-out seamer.

Vettori didn't receive the support he needed early. Chief culprit was Iain O'Brien, who looked ineffective in helpful conditions and questions must now be asked whether he has the tools to be a threat at this level.

"Just like batting, bowling is done in partnerships and you need to build pressure from both ends," Vettori said. "That's where we've struggled right through the one-dayers and now into tests."

Vettori accounted for Langer and Ricky Ponting. Hayden chipped Franklin to cover while Michael Clarke and Simon Katich both nicked out.

But when you win the toss and insert the opposition in bowler-friendly conditions, five wickets is a poor return.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY