Wynne Gray: Aussies set challenge for quicks

Mitchell Starc of Australia celebrates after dismissing Tom Latham of New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

While laments continue about New Zealand's tepid bowling attack the Aussies have challenged their quicks to do a better job in Perth.

They made batting uncomfortable for the Kiwis but their inability to collect a scalp until the 18th and 23rd overs in each innings provoked enough concern for captain Steve Smith to put his pacemen on notice.

That initial lack of bite from Australia was not a significant springboard for NZ who clawed their way to 56 in their first innings and 44 in their second before they lost a wicket.

When the two Mitchells - Starc and Johnson - got their line and lengths sorted, they showed what a lethal strikeforce they are as they broke NZ's first innings resistance with four wickets in 25 balls.

It took NZ more than 130 overs to claim the same number of wickets in Australia's first innings and almost 42 overs in their second dig as they chased runs.

The disparity in the quality of the teams' bowling was marked but that gulf was not good enough for Smith who was disappointed with the lack of initial bite from his fast bowlers.

He thought his quicks bowled too short at the Gabba and has called for an improvement when the sides meet for the second test at Perth on a quicker track.

"We probably did not make them play enough balls down the ground to bring in our catchers behind the wicket and bowled and lbws," he told the SMH. "So from my point of view it's just about getting the ball up there and trying to swing it a bit more.

"I think that's going to be important for us leading into Perth which is probably going to be pretty similar conditions."

Johnson has joined Brett Lee as the fourth highest wicket taker for Australia on 310 test wickets with his sights set on overhauling his mentor Dennis Lillee who sits in third place on 355 test victims.

When Lillee saw a teenage Johnson bowling his idiosyncratic thunderbolts at a coaching clinic in Brisbane he marked him down as a serious prospect. After seven years with Queensland, Johnson signed for WA in 2008 and still calls the the State of Excitement home.

NZ and Australia have played one test at Perth, in 1989, when NZ followed on and saved the test as Mark Greatbatch batted almost 11 hours to score 146 not out with huge support from the Crowe brothers, Chris Cairns and then Martin Snedden.