Cricket: One day left to save the test

Kane Williamson departs after hitting another 50. Photo / Getty

New Zealand have a day to bat to save the first test against Australia at the Gabba tomorrow.

Pull that off, and they will feel they have dodged a cannonball after Australia have dominated proceedings from the first session on day one.

New Zealand, needing 504 to win the match, will start today on 142 for three, with Ross Taylor on 20 and captain Brendon McCullum on four.

Players returned to the field after the tea interval, but immediately turned on their heels and returned to the pavilion as ground staff scurried on with covers and they didn't return.

There was some light rain, but the main problem was poor light and heavy black clouds were positioned very close to the ground.

New Zealand's hopes of survival took a heavy blow just before tea when key batsman Kane Williamson was out leg before wicket for 59 in 73 balls.

He tried to pull offspinner Nathan Lyon and was given out by umpire Richard Illingworth.

The ball struck first innings centurymaker Williamson just above his waistband but replays suggested the ball would have clipped the top of the bails, thus backing Illingworth's decision.

It was the third time Williamson had made a century and 50 in the same test, joining John R. Reid and Nathan Astle among New Zealand players to that achievement.

He went to his 50 with a fine stroke to the mid wicket boundary off Mitchell Johnson, shortly before his dismissal.

The other batsman out in the session was opener Martin Guptill.

He had knuckled down impressively, albeit surviving two dropped catches on 0 and 7, before being finally winkled out by offspinner Nathan Lyon for 23, on the back foot and edging a catch to Steven Smith at slip.

The usually assertive Guptill had batted 186 minutes, and faced 133 balls in a doughty performance.

By contrast, Taylor, who arrived at the crease on a pair, had an edgy start, before plundering a couple of boundaries through square leg and mid wicket.

New Zealand's highest successful fourth innings run chase was 21 years ago when they scored 324 for five to beat Pakistan in Christchurch.

Australia were the losers in the two highest winning chases in test history - the West Indies' 418 for seven at Antigua in 2003, and South Africa's 414 for four at Perth in 2008.

By David Leggat in Brisbane