Kiwis cling on as Aussies go for the jugular

New Zealand kept an eye on the weather to save them as they frustrated Australia's efforts to wrap up another fast-tracked victory in the second cricket Test at the Adelaide Oval on Monday. The Kiwis, humiliated by an innings loss in Brisbane, appeared to be lurching towards another ignominious defeat inside four days when they faltered to 36 for four at tea chasing a historically-improbable 464 to win.
But Nathan Astle and Jacob Oram resisted Australia's attempts to break through for 90 minutes in a stubborn 63-run fifth-wicket stand before Astle lost concentration and hit to Justin Langer at short cover to give hometown hero Darren Lehmann his first wicket of the match.
Wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum took up the struggle with Oram and the pair got New Zealand to the close in the gathering gloom and under floodlights at 149 for five with Oram unbeaten on 40 in 129 minutes and McCullum on 34 in 38 minutes.
McCullum's spirited resistance included a six off the world's leading wicket-taker Shane Warne with the pair's 50 partnership coming in a brisk 34 minutes.
It was a victory of sorts for the Kiwis to survive to stumps with some showers and cooler weather forecast for Tuesday's last day, giving them a remote lifeline to wiggle out from Australia's clutches.
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting had the option of enforcing the follow-on on Sunday's third day with an overwhelming 324-run innings lead, but chose to give his bowlers some respite from the hot weather and time to recuperate for a final victory assault on the beleaguered Kiwis.
Foremost in Ponting's thinking was that the Kiwis had folded for record low 76 in their second innings to go down at the Gabba without a whimper.
Ponting called a halt at 139 for two, setting New Zealand an improbable victory target of 464 runs off a minimum of 143 overs over almost five sessions.
The highest score New Zealand have achieved in the fourth innings to win a Test was 324 for five when they beat Pakistan by five wickets in Christchurch in 1993-94.
Ponting got quick reward for his second declaration of the match 13 minutes after lunch with four Kiwi wickets, including the significant dismissal of skipper Stephen Fleming in unfortunate circumstances.
The Kiwis quickly ran into strife with opener Mathew Sinclair out in the fourth over, leg before wicket to Jason Gillespie for two.
The Aussies were jubilant when all-time leading Kiwi runscorer Fleming was out five overs later, when a Glenn McGrath delivery glanced his thigh pad and clipped the top of the off-bail.
The Kiwis lost two wickets in as many balls when opener Mark Richardson was caught by Langer at third slip off Michael Kasprowicz for 16 and then Scott Styris was out on the first ball of Warne's following over for eight.
The Kiwis did well to contain the Australians to 78 runs in the morning session through their finger-spinners Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman, who picked up the wickets of Australian opening pair Langer and Matthew Hayden.
Wiseman (1-50) and Vettori (1-33) bowled unchanged for 31 overs.
Langer became the 10th Australian batsman to score 6,000 Test runs before he was lbw to Wiseman for 46 ending a 93-run opening stand with Hayden.
The crack Australian pair have now scored 4,142 together in 41 Tests and 70 innings, ranking them third only in Tests to West Indians Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes (6482 in 89 Tests, 148 innings) and Sri Lankans Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya (4159 in 62 Tests, 106 innings).
Hayden, who needed on-field treatment for a gashed chin after he was hit while attempting to sweep Vettori on 47, raised his 18th Test half-century before he was caught down the leg-side by McCullum off Vettori for 54.
SCOREBOARED AUSTRALIA: (1st innings): 575 for 8 dec (J. Langer 215, D. Lehmann 81, M. Hayden 70; D. Vettori 5-152, P. Wiseman 3-140):
NEW ZEALAND: (1st innings): 251 (S. Fleming 83, N. Astle 52; G. McGrath 4-66, J. Gillespie 3-37)

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AUSTRALIA

(2nd innings - overnight 2-57):

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J.Langer lbw b Wiseman           46

M.Hayden c McCullum b Vettori    54

R.Ponting not out                26

D.Martyn not out                  6

EXTRAS: (6lb, nb1)                7

TOTAL: (2 wkts dec)             139

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FALL OF WICKETS: 1-93, 2-119
BOWLING: Martin 6-1-11-0, Oram 5-1-17-0, Franklin 5-0-18-0 (1nb), Wiseman 22-3-52-1, Vettori 18-2-35-1
OVERS: 56

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NEW ZEALAND (2nd innings):

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M.Richardson c Langer b Kasprowicz    16

M.Sinclair lbw b Gillespie             2

S.Fleming b McGrath                    3

S.Styris c Clarke b Warne              8

N.Astle c Langer b Lehmann            38

J.Oram not out                        40

B.McCullum not out                    34

EXTRAS: (B-1, LB_6, NB-1)              8

TOTAL: (for five wickets)            149

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