KEY POINTS:
What a shame New Zealand's batsmen could not carry on where their bowlers left off yesterday. Even so, by stumps last night the first test was wide open. But anyone assuming the pitch at the Gabba has been bad news for the test, think again.
There's nothing wrong with the pitch. Indeed, you can mount a strong argument that these sort of pitches should be encouraged. They keep the game moving.
When the sun comes out, the Gabba is invariably a treat to bat on, but on the first day, or if there's a bit of rain about, and the green tinges come through, the seam bowlers lick their lips. It has had consistent bounce and while it has certainly been challenging to bat on, it has not been dangerous or physically threatening.
There were some ordinary strokes, but also batsmen have been got out, not by the pitch itself, but by a pitch which encourages quality seam bowling. Michael Clarke prospered by working hard for his 98 on day one but we've seen good players being dismissed by top class bowling from both teams.
The Gabba pitch had life in it again yesterday morning, courtesy of more overnight rain. Freshened up, it certainly made the New Zealand batsmen's job harder.
And yet, a pitch like that helps New Zealand. It narrows the gap in quality between the two batting lineups. By that, I mean on a good flat batting strip, Australia, with all their hotshots, would rate themselves perhaps 150-200 runs better than their New Zealand counterparts.
When these teams meet, a pitch which brings the bowlers into the contest, without overbalancing it, should help New Zealand.
But yesterday only Ross Taylor, Daniel Flynn and, for a time, Jesse Ryder of the top six looked like surviving long, and it was a pity Taylor went in the first over after lunch when seemingly set on 40.
Tim Southee did a fine job when Australia were dismissed on the first day. I suspect he's the sort of bowler who will prosper at test level, yet perhaps be no better than half a dozen others at domestic first-class level.
That's partly because test pitches are different from those used at first-class level.
Southee will do well in test cricket because he has got a little bit of bounce, a little bit of pace and takes the ball away from the bat.
Combine those factors, then look through history and you need all those elements to outfox test quality batsmen. Sheer pace won't do it. The bounce is critical because you can keep high quality batsmen on the crease.
The last player to arrive in the test team at a similarly young age and do well from day one is the present captain. Dan Vettori made his debut against England in 1997, immediately started taking wickets and hasn't stopped.
There's not too many who arrive at 18, 19 or 20 and immediately contribute and look the business. Chris Cairns and I played for New Zealand at that age but didn't produce as much as Vettori and Southee at the same stage.
Starting with the selectors last season, and running through to the captain now, the important people like Southee in the test team.
Clearly Southee was a key part in New Zealand's strategy for the test. The selection was thoroughly vindicated on Thursday.
Australia's batting looked to struggle on two counts: the quality of the bowling which was constantly at the batsmen and asked good questions - backed up by top-notch catching, which was an absolute must - plus their recent time in India.
That won't have helped their preparation, partly because the pitches are so different, but also because they arrived in Brisbane short of centuries.
Australia's top batsmen haven't got the runs behind them they normally have. That creates doubt in the mind. They don't have that mindset at the moment and New Zealand's bowlers preyed on that.
