Cricket: Australia pick holes in own performance

Australia's Mitchell Johnson celebrates after getting the wicket of New Zealand's Brendon McCullum during play on day two of the first cricket test between Australia and New Zealand. Photo / AP.

Having trampled New Zealand by 208 runs, you'd think all would be rosy in the Australian garden.

That picking holes in the performances of pace spearheads Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc would be a bit, well, picky.

But the Australian way is not to sit on their hands, even in times of triumph.

So the spotlight is on the Mitchells, both singly and as a pair.

On the second afternoon, Johnson and Starc ripped a hole in New Zealand's first innings, sharing four wickets for 16 in 26 deliveries.

It was a crucial passage in the match as New Zealand were seeking to produce an emphatic response to Australia's first innings 556 for four declared.

Starc took six wickets in the match, Johnson four but there have been concerns about the pressure the pair of leftarmers put on New Zealand and indeed whether the twin lefty attack is the most effective approach.

Now add in that Johnson, having joined Brett Lee on 310 test wickets, fourth on the Australian alltime list, is thought to be pondering retirement in the near future.

Another factor into the mix is that Johnson, 34, is 46 wickets behind overtaking the great Dennis Lillee's fabled mark of 355 wickets. If he's intent on overhauling Lillee he'll likely have to continue another summer beyond this.

As for 25-year-old Starc, he received a serve from his captain Steven Smith yesterday - and copped a $NZ8313 fine, or half his match fee - for his intemperate throwing of a ball at batsman Mark Craig in the dying stages of the test.

"I thought they bowled well in patches, together and then apart, but they're quality bowlers and if they get it right on fast bouncy tracks they're a handful," Australian coach Darren Lehmann said.

''They played their part in this test match, but we do want to bowl better with the new ball to be perfectly honest."

It was a point echoed by Smith after the test, too.

"I think our new ball bowling needs a little bit of work," said Smith.

"I thought we bowled a little bit too short for this wicket. We probably didn't make them play enough balls down the ground to bring our catchers behind the wicket (into play) and bowled and lbw (chances).

"From my point of view it's just about getting the ball up there and trying to swing it a bit more.

"That's going to be important for us leading into Perth, which is probably going to be pretty similar conditions."