Adam Parore: Rescue remedy - early wickets today and long, hard hitting

New Zealand must do two things if the first test is not to slip completely out of their grasp before the third day starts tomorrow.

They have to win the morning session today; then they need to bat long and hard in their first innings.

That means wickets early while the second new ball is still hard and shiny.

That's crucial, and that means Chris Martin has to lead the way.

New Zealand simply didn't have enough penetration up front in the first session. I felt our senior seamer looked a bit off the pace yesterday. His job is to get guys out and he had only one to show for his efforts yesterday. I'm sure he will be disappointed with his day.

I suspect New Zealand would have fielded first given the choice.

Decision-making for captains depends on the quality of the players at their disposal. Frankly New Zealand are a bit short on both sides.

Dan Vettori will have felt, given his resources, bowling first was the lesser of two evils yesterday. They got that through Ricky Ponting's decision.

Exposing New Zealand's green top order would have been risky. For Ponting it's a different story. He simply looks at the pitch and conditions and plumps for whichever course of action he prefers. He has strength to capitalise with bat and ball.

This test could easily go badly wrong if New Zealand can't stay on the pace. Historically, New Zealand do not win tests when coming from well back on the first innings.

If they finish their second innings more than 100 runs off the pace they're out of the game. Australia's batsmen will see to that and New Zealand will face a tough job to save the match.

The bowlers, led by Vettori and Daryl Tuffey, did a sound holding job through the middle of the day, before things went badly wrong after tea.

Yet if New Zealand had nabbed a couple of wickets with the second new ball late on, they would have woken up this morning with Australia's tail exposed and feeling good about their day's work and the prospects for today.

Instead, I suspect they just ran out of horsepower.

Michael Clarke is a class batsman. He took his time getting going yesterday but once he's in, if the bowling wavers he'll cash in, which is what he did. He is just the sort of batsman who will hurt a bowling attack which loses its radar.

He and Marcus North wrenched the game from a relatively good situation for New Zealand into one from which Australia will fancy marching on to dictate the match.