Record last-wicket stand, Kane's run-out leave Aussies on top

Cameron Green's career-high 174no coupled with his unlikely last-wicket stand alongside Josh Hazlewood gave Australia control of the opening Test against New Zealand, but it was an even more implausible run out that proved the turning point on another bowler-dominated day at Wellington.

Green's knock, the best by an Australia number four offshore since Steve Smith's double-ton at Old Trafford during the 2019 Ashes, saw his team pocket a 204-run first innings lead as the Black Caps crumbled before fighting back with the ball late on day two.

Having taken 30.1 overs to snare Australia's final wicket in today's first session, NZ were bowled out in 43.1 overs across less than four hours with only some lusty late hitting carrying them safely into triple figures after crashing to 5-29.

Nathan Lyon cleaned up in the face of the belated counter-attack, claiming two wickets in an over to draw level with West Indian Courtney Walsh's 519 Test scalps and then a further couple to finish the innings with 4-43 and in seventh place on the all-time list with 521.

It was only some belligerent late-order hitting from Glenn Phillips (71 off 70 balls) and Matt Henry, who followed the second five-wicket haul of his Test career earlier in the day with a breezy 42 (off 34), that carried the Black Caps to the cusp of the follow-on mark.

But even though that option was available to Australia skipper Pat Cummins, he opted to bat again with more than three days remaining in the game and a tight turnaround for his bowlers before the second Test begins at Christchurch next Friday.

Despite the reassurance that no team has won a Test at Basin Reserve after forfeiting a first of lead above 200, Australia's top-order batting wobbles returned with Smith (0) chopping on to his stumps in the opening over of his team's second innings.

Then Marnus Labuschagne's recent lean run continued when he was caught down the leg side for two – his fourth single-figure score in as many Test innings - with his team 2-4 in the fifth over.

Lyon then sent a scare through the Australia camp as he appeared to injure his right hip flexor while deployed as nightwatch before being dropped at third slip off the day's final delivery, but he and Usman Khawaja will resume tomorrow with Australia 2-13 and holding an overall lead of 217.

Even though bowlers have held sway across the first two days where 22 wickets have fallen, it was the wicket of Williamson which had nothing to do with behaviour of the ball off the surface that could likely prove pivotal in the final outcome.

In his previous nine innings on NZ soil dating back to February last year, Williamson returned scores of 132, 1, 121no, 215, 118, 109, 43 and 133no which made his urgency to get off the mark even more difficult to fathom.

Consequently, his dismissal in such brutally bizarre circumstances proved a crowning glory for Australia on a day they stood dominant after a faltering start to their first trans-Tasman Test campaign in eight years.

Williamson's tragi-comic run out from the second delivery he faced might have been caused by his ill-advised attempt to steal a single that was compounded by his batting partner's inattention, but it was also a manifestation of the muddled minds that characterised the Kiwis forgettable day.

Having begun the morning with the seemingly straightforward task of snaring Australia's final wicket after finishing day one marginally ahead with Australia 9-279, their previously potent seam attack was rendered suddenly ineffectual.

So listless, in fact, that 10th wicket duo Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood set a new benchmark for a final pairing in a Test against NZ and forged the most productive union of Australia's innings, enduring almost two and half hours on a pitch where no previous batter had scored more than 40.

But if an extended session in which they conceded 104 runs from 30 largely uninspiring overs before Hazlewood holed out to mid-off was dire, the calamitous start to their reply whereby their three most accomplished batters fell without adding a run in the space of six deliveries was next-level disaster.

The low point of that implosion that shocked the sold-out crowd at the Basin into stunned silence – no minor feat in itself, given NZ's reputation for wry stoicism in the face of perennial disappointments – was the manner in which Williamson departed for a second-ball duck.

The run-in and eventual run out with Will Young (elevated to opener due to Devon Conway's absence with a thumb injury) revived memories of the infamous collision between Australia's Matthew Elliott and Mark Waugh in 1996, with initial fears Williamson had suffered an injury in the process.

But despite limping gingerly from the field, he took his place when the Black Caps began another bowling stint with just over half an hour remaining on day two and is expected to be fit for the celebratory Christchurch Test where both he and Southee will make their 100th appearances.

So often the hero of the Black Caps dogged refusal to back down against better-resourced rivals, Williamson's demise was poignantly emblematic of their capitulation today after Green acknowledged the Black Caps held sway less than 24 hours earlier.

Dispirited at seeing the prospect of Australia's lowest first innings total at Basin Reserve since 1990 blow out to  almost 400, the loss of three wickets to self-inflicted blows inside six overs effectively curtailed NZ's hopes of a first Test win over their neighbours on home soil in three decades.

Opener Tom Latham started the procession when he made a last-second decision to try and withdraw his bat from a Mitchell Starc delivery that took the inside edge and bounced into off stump.

Williamson's response to his moment of madness was to simply gesture in bewilderment with arms flung wide, before engaging in a boundary-side discussion with fourth umpire Wayne Knights then  trudging to the dressing room, run out for the first time in Tests since 2012.

And his replacement at the crease, Rachin Ravindra – regarded as the brightest hope of carrying Williamson's profound legacy into the next generation, so promising has been the start to his international career – sliced the third ball he faced to point.

Young and Daryl Mitchell slowed the carnage with a dogged fourth-wicket fightback that brought 17 hard-fought runs from more than 11 overs, but when they departed in successive balls to diving catches by keeper Alex Carey the hosts were 5-29 and in abject disarray.

With the pitch expected to quicken up on day two, and the Black Caps bowlers beginning with a ball just five overs old, an early end to Australia's innings was tipped noting Hazlewood had not reached double figures in his 15 preceding Test innings.

But from the outset, NZ seemed to go through the motions in the belief that final scalp would land in their laps.

Instead of the intent displayed on day one as Australia sunk to 6-176 before Green's rescue mission, they sat back waiting for the all-rounder to mishit a big shot in his bid to farm the strike or for Hazlewood to simply miss one.

However, their ploy of keeping the field up for the start of each over then dropping men back to the leg side rope as the quicks went for the bouncer tactic with the final few balls soon became predictable.

As a result, Green hung back awaiting the short stuff that surely would come and either ducked safely underneath or successfully muscled the balls within reach to or over the boundary.

The first of his five sixes carried Australia past 300, a total that seemed a distant hope amid the top-order collapse yesterday, then Hazlewood's deft glide to the deep third fence posted the pair's 50-run stand.

After an hour's play that partnership had grown to 65, and Southee felt compelled to deliver a team talk during the drinks adjournment which conveyed the message frustrations were mounting.

Nothing changed over the ensuing hour however, except perhaps Hazlewood's surety at the wicket as he and Green easily countered the four-man right-arm pace attack and overtook previous best last-wicket stand at the Basin, which was 78 set in 2018 by Blundell and sorely missed left-arm seamer Trent Boult.

The 100-run stand arrived courtesy of another thunderous six by Green, and by the time they eclipsed Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath's legendary 114 to set the highest last-wicket union for Australia against New Zealand, all fight appeared to have left the Black Caps.

Whereas many a 10th wicket partnership carries a strong element of hit and hope, Green and Hazlewood happily played out 20 consecutive dot balls in the lead-up to lunch such was the mastery they wielded over an increasingly dispirited opponent.

Qantas Tour of New Zealand

Watch all the action from the NZvAUS Tour live and exclusive on Foxtel and Kayo Sports. Click Here to subscribe

February 29 – March 4: First Test, Wellington, 9am AEDT

March 8-12: Second Test, Christchurch, 9am AEDT

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc

New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.