Cairns drains Aussie hopes

WELLINGTON, MARCH 24. New Zealand, propelled by a pugnacious century from Chris Cairns, had Australia on the back foot after a wildly fluctuating opening day's play in the second cricket Test at the Basin Reserve here on Friday.

Australia, coming off its 62-run victory in last week's first Auckland Test and chasing its ninth straight Test win, looked to have picked up where it left off when it had the Kiwis in dire straits at 69 for five at lunch.

But a blazing 109 off 138 balls by Cairns revived New Zealand's first innings to 298 and at the close Australia had lost two wickets for 29 in its seven over play.

At stumps, Michael Slater, who hit four boundaries, was unbeaten on 20 having seen opening partner Greg Blewett go for a duck and nightwatchman Shane Warne for seven off the last ball of the day from left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori.

New Zealand's hero was its swashbuckling allrounder Cairns, whose third Test century came at the right time after the Black Caps were wallowing at 66 for five.

By the time he departed to a magnificent stumbling outfield catch by Greg Blewett about an hour before stumps, New Zealand had rallied to 282 for eight.

Cairns, who hit 14 boundaries and two sixes in his 206-minute innings, featured in rebuilding partnerships with Nathan Astle (61) and Adam Parore (46).

The lusty hitting Cairns put on 72 runs in 54 minutes for the sixth wicket with Astle and combined with Parore to add 109 runs for the seventh wicket to turn around the New Zealand fortunes after express bowler Brett Lee had struck thrice. New Zealand profited from uncustomary sloppy Australian fielding with Astle dropped on 15 by Brett Lee, Cairns having a life on 38 when Mark Waugh spilled a one-handed effort at second slip and Vettori fumbled by Warne at slips when on 19 on the way to 27.

Warne, who broke Dennis Lillee's 16-year-old Australian Test wicket-taking record in the Auckland Test last week, claimed four for 68 to take his career tally to 360.

He removed Astle when Mark Waugh made amends with a catch at slips and after the dismissal of Cairns by Colin Miller, Warne got the wickets of tailenders Vettori and Simon Doull.

The Kiwis tore into the Australian bowlers after lunch, with 92 runs flowing in the third hour as Cairns and Parore lashed out.

From 66 for five, the Kiwis did extraordinarily well to finish just a couple of runs off 300. And finished the day with a flourish, removing the out-of-form Blewett for a duck when he couldn't get out of the way of a rising ball and edged to Astle at slips giving Doull his 98th Test wicket.

Warne came out as nightwatchman to face the final three overs in the evening gloom and was judged lbw to Vettori off the last ball of the day.

Captain Stephen Fleming's decision to bat after winning the toss looked to have backfired disastrously as the Kiwis lost five wickets in the opening session, but he was mightily pleased with the end day's result.

- AFP

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