Cricket: Chase was 'a bridge too far' - McCullum

Brendon McCullum shakes the hand of retiring Australian quick Mitchell Johnson. Photo / Getty

Brendon McCullum would have loved a crack at a final day chase at the Waca yesterday.
But he acknowledged last night the target set by his Australian rival Steve Smith was ''a bridge too far".

The chase called for 321 runs from 48 overs. Rain intervened for a time and the game ended a few overs early, with New Zealand at 104 for two.

Captain McCullum was conscious New Zealand's hard-won position could not be frittered away.

"After Kane (Williamson) and Ross' (Taylor) innings it would have felt hollow to have come out without at least a draw," McCullum said last night.

"You've got to take those things into account. While the wicket was good there was still an element of vulnerability with those cracks, especially if it had exposed the lower order.

''The message was not to go and draw the game, but play your game and see what unfolds.

"We started impeccably with the ball. When you bowl as well as we did this morning, I kept thinking if we'd bowled that well on day one how things could be different."

What is beyond dispute is that New Zealand have pulled themselves back into the series, going into the decider in Adelaide next week.

They went past 600 in an innings against Australia for the first time; Taylor and Williamson turned on scintillating batting displays; and the bowling yesterday, and for chunks of day two, was distinctly better than in the lost first test at Brisbane.

"We came over here with ambitions and expectations of winning a series but if we can't win, the next best thing is to draw, so that's firmly in our minds," McCullum said.

"Head to Adelaide chasing a result and if we play better, tidying up certain areas, we'll give ourselves an opportunity."

While New Zealand will get to the third test with a couple of days of pink ball cricket in Perth this weekend behind them, and an upbeat squad, Australia must find a new batsman, with Usman Khawaja out with a hamstring injury, and a new seamer, courtesy of Mitchell Johnson's retirement.

Smith suggested he would go up to No 3 in Adelaide and veteran Peter Siddle looms as favourite for Johnson's spot. The Australian squad is due to be named at noon today NZ time.

Smith admitted the Waca pitch made setting a remotely tempting declaration was never an option.

"As we saw there at the back end, the wicket was still extremely good so I didn't want to give them much of a sniff.

"The two guys out there at the end, we've struggled to get them out this test match. Well, Kane in both test matches."

Smith admitted he'd thought how he could have forced the issue over the last three days of the test.

"I'm not sure really. It was just a really tough wicket to get wickets on.

"I was a bit disappointed with the way the wicket played."

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