Gilchrist slams century
as more rain falls

Australia still requires all 20 New Zealand wickets to win the first Test after rain severely curtailed another day’s play.

Adam Gilchrist scored quick runs to make 118, with Australia declaring at 9/486 when he was dismissed after around an hour of actual play. With two days remaining, the Black Caps are 0/29 in their first innings and can only aim for a draw.

Play was scheduled to start half an hour early but after fears the entire day would be washed out, actually began just two hours later. Things did not go exactly as planned for Australia in the half hour session before lunch as Gilchrist, 88 not out overnight, was still two runs short of his hundred at the break after Australia could only add a further 15 it its overnight 7/435.

With a damp ball making it difficult for the fielding side, there was not an overwhelming desire to declare and immediately pursue the 20 wickets required. Brett Lee, who himself might have had optimistic ambitions of three figures after batting so well yesterday, suffered an unfortunate end in Chris Cairns’ first over of the day after adding only one to his tally. Cairns got the ball to nip back off the seam to Lee as he pushed forward, clipping only pad on the way through to Parore as the Kiwis went up. Sadly for a disappointed Lee, so too did the umpire’s finger.

Gilchrist could have been run out a little earlier when Lee called him through after playing the ball to gully, from where Vincent’s side-on through would have seen him out had it hit.

With the pitch enlivened after the rain, runs were not easy to come by, and Gilchrist had another close call when an attempted drive over the top fell narrowly out of reach of a diving Bell running back from mid off. Gillespie tried to get Gilchrist the strike just before lunch but his edge to third man went to the boundary, so Gilchrist headed back 98 not out with Australia on 8/450.

Gilchrist reached his hundred first over back, cutting Cairns hard past gully for his fourth hundred in his 23rd match. With the milestone out of the way, it was time to party.

Australia logically figured to bat on rather than declare immediately, reasoning that if you have to make some runs in the second innings anyway, why not get them all while going well in the first innings? Gillespie – probably a better batsman than both Warne and Lee but who doesn’t make as many runs as he should due to his serious defensive nature – rarely hits out, but when he does, it’s very effective. He relished a rare chance to tee off against McMillan and Cairns, as did Gilchrist, who continued to show why he might be the most destructive batsman in the game.

The fun lasted 20-odd minutes, during which Australia added a further 36 until Gilchrist popped up a pull shot off Cairns towards mid on, where Vincent ran in and dived to hold a smart catch. It gave Cairns, expensive but lively, his fifth wicket of the innings, and Waugh promptly declared at 9/486 as Gilchrist raced off to get his keeping pads on.

Openers Richardson and Bell were briefly tormented by McGrath and Gillespie, surviving a couple of close lbw shouts, as the pace pairing were made to look in a class of their own. Gillespie was particularly menacing, at one point bowling to Bell without bothering with a fine leg, but to their credit they hung on grimly in the gloomy conditions. With light rain falling McGrath then began to lose his grip on the ball, slipping down leg side and overpitching to Richardson who clipped him away nicely, before rain forced the final inevitable stoppage midway through the second session.

Scorecard:
Australian 1st innings | New Zealand 1st innings
Australian 2nd innings | New Zealand 2nd innings