… Australia trail by 141 with seven wickets in hand
(REUTERS) – Ricky Ponting looked poised to make amends for running out Usman Khawaja, with a big score as Australia reached 154-3 in reply to New Zealand’s first innings 295 after the second day of the first Test yesterday. Ponting was on 67 when bad light brought an early end to proceedings alongside his successor as skipper Michael Clarke, who was fortunate to reach 28 after being bowled by Doug Bracewell only for the umpire to call him back for a no-ball.
The 36-year-old Ponting had steadied the innings with Khawaja after the cheap loss of both openers but Khawaja hared off for an ill-considered single on the first ball after tea and Kane Williamson accepted the gift with an athletic underarm throw.
He departed for 38 with a glower on his face leaving Ponting, who is looking to end a 21-month wait for his 40th Test century, to progress to his 58th half-century, his second in consecutive Tests.
“Ricky’s one of the legends of this game, he’s awesome and hopefully he can go on and get a big one tomorrow,” said Australia finger-spinner Nathan Lyon, who took 4-69.
“There’s going to be a lot of hard work for us tomorrow, particularly in the first couple of hours. The game’s certainly in the balance.”
A run-out also figured large in New Zealand’s innings with Daniel Vettori throwing away his wicket just four runs short of his seventh Test century to trigger a collapse from 254-5 to 295 all out shortly before lunch.
Australia’s openers had just two overs to negotiate before the break and debutant David Warner hit a crisp three off Vettori for his first Test runs in the first.

OPTIMISTIC RUN
Tim Southee, however, brought an early end to his outing with his first ball, a short delivery that caught the 25-year-old on the gloves and left wicketkeeper Reece Young with an easy catch.
His fellow opener Hughes (10) fell victim to a peach of a ball from Chris Martin and a low catch from Martin Guptill but the quality of the delivery will not reduce the pressure on the 22-year-old after another failure left Australia wobbling on 25-2.
New Zealand had resumed in the morning on 176-5 with Vettori and Dean Brownlie assiduously extending their sixth-wicket partnership to 158 before the former captain was run-out.
Vettori had just smacked a neat four to move onto 96 when he drove a Nathan Lyon delivery to mid-off and set off optimistically for a run.
Mike Hussey gathered the ball and the accuracy of his throw made Vettori’s despairing dive academic and sent the 32-year-old trudging back to the pavilion.
Young (two) lasted less than an over and Bracewell soon followed for a duck with Tim Southee (17) and Chris Martin (one) also failing to keep company with Brownlie, who finished with an impressive unbeaten 77 in his second Test.
Lyon, playing his first match at a ground which traditionally offers little for spinners, took three of the last four New Zealand wickets to fall.

NEW ZEALAND first innings (o/n 176-5)
B. McCullum c Warner b Starc    34
M. Guptill c Haddin b Siddle    13
K. Williamson c Khawaja b Lyon    19
R. Taylor b Pattinson    14
J. Ryder c Warner b Starc    6
D. Brownlie not out    77
D. Vettori run-out    96
R. Young c Clarke b Siddle    2
D. Bracewell c Clarke b Lyon    0
T. Southee c Hussey b Lyon    17
C. Martin b Lyon    1
Extras: (lb-1, b-9, w-3, nb-3)    16
Total: (all out, 82.5 overs)    295
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-56, 3-78, 4-93, 5-96, 6-254, 7-256, 8-259, 9-290.
Bowling: Pattinson 15-1-64-1 (nb-2, w-2), Siddle 24-8-57-2 (w-1, nb-1), Starc 20-1-90-2, Lyon 21.5-1-69-4, Hussey 2-0-5-0.

AUSTRALIA first innings
D. Warner c Young b Southee    3
P. Hughes c Guptill b Martin    10
U. Khawaja run-out    38
R. Ponting not out    67
M. Clarke not out    28
Extras: (lb-1, w-1, nb-6)    8
Total: (for three wickets, 46 overs)    154
Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-25, 3-91.
Bowling (to date): Vettori 9-2-23-0, Southee 12-5-31-1, Martin 12-2-38-1 (w-1), Bracewell 10-2-50-0 (nb-5), Guptill 1-0-6-0 (nb-1), Brownlie 2-0-5-0.