2nd Orange Test: Australia v New Zealand at Hobart, 22-26 Nov 2001 CricInfo Live Report

2nd Orange Test: Australia v New Zealand at Hobart, 22-26 Nov 2001
John Polack

Australia 1st innings: Lunch - Day 2, Rain delay, Stumps - Day 2,
Live Reports from previous days

FAVOURITE SON SHINES IN ABSENCE OF SUN

There was so lengthy a rain delay that the effect of its batting was largely watered down today. But Australia's assault on New Zealand in this Second Test nevertheless continued on emphatically on the second day here in Hobart.

Generally light but steady drizzle fell at all the wrong times today, contriving to wipe out four hours of play in total in the middle of the afternoon. And then there was a rather farcical end to it all, when the last nine overs were scrapped altogether on account of bad light.

By stumps, New Zealand was 0/0 in its first innings, having not faced a delivery in response to Australia's whopping Ricky Ponting (157*)-inspired tally of 8/558 declared.

The weather eventually forced many among the crowd to head home early. But, in such action as was possible, hometown hero Ponting provided highlights aplenty for the locals as he continued to unfurl a veritable series of copybook strokes. In an innings that delivered the Tasmanian his ninth Test century, the right hander was again assured off both the front and back foot with precious few false shots featuring in his exhibition.

Before a sharp burst of rain hit the ground for the first time at 12:20pm to send the players scurrying, he joined with Shane Warne (70) in a record-breaking stand for the seventh wicket in Hobart Tests. Just to lend some symmetry to the occasion, he then added another new line to the same page upon the resumption at 5:20pm, by combining with Brett Lee (41) in a stand that bettered the pre-existing mark for the eighth.

"It was obviously very satisfying," said Ponting of his first Test century on hallowed home soil.

"Something I've always wanted to do is score a (Test) hundred at Bellerive. There's nothing better than putting on a good performance in your home state. Matty Hayden did it for the first time last week, and I've done it for the first time this week."

Quintessential partnership breaker Nathan Astle (1/30) snared a wicket in his first over when Warne dragged a ball back into his stumps, and he contained the Australians respectably thereafter. And Daniel Vettori (5/138) deservedly collected a fifth wicket when he had a belligerent Lee caught on the deep mid wicket boundary.

Otherwise, another gloomy day for the Black Caps had little to recommend it. It even ended dismally as openers Mark Richardson and Matthew Bell sought the refuge of the dressing room for bad light in something of a scene of high farce.

They, and the Australians, had walked all the way out into the middle, only to saunter all the way back again when Umpires Steve Bucknor and Steve Davis decided that the prospect of Glenn McGrath steaming in with the new ball represented too much of a danger in the conditions.

It wasn't the day's only false start. Twice, the game had been within a minute of re-commencing - at 1:30pm and 2:15pm - when the drizzle mockingly re-awakened after lying dormant for all of the previous half-hour.

It was a relief that Ponting, Warne and Lee were mercifully able to find a way of stifling the tedium.

RAIN FRUSTRATES HOPES OF RESTART IN HOBART

Whoever it was that wrote the script for the Brisbane Test was widely commended for their work a fortnight ago, bringing as they did convulsive cricket, pulsating bursts of action, and an electrifying finish around the serial interference of rain.

Suitably flattered, it seems, the anonymous soul has been content to rest on his or her laurels here in Hobart during the second match of this three-Test series between Australia and New Zealand.

Because, just as occurred in Brisbane after Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden fired Australia to a strong position through a double century opening stand on the first day, rain has hit the match on the second.

After Ricky Ponting (127*) and Shane Warne (70) had consolidated Australia's already authoritative state by leading the hosts to a first innings score of 7/488 following 80 minutes of play today, a sharp burst of drizzle hit the ground and forced the players off the ground.

Though the rain has only been intermittent since, the conditions have ensured there has been no action thereafter.

The players were almost literally on the verge of resuming twice - once at 1:30pm and then again at 2:15pm. But, in freakish style, the rains came again just as Umpires Steve Bucknor and Steve Davis were heading on to the field.

At 2:45pm, the lightest of drizzle is still falling.

ASSAULT CONTINUES ON NEW ZEALAND BOWLERS

Australia's assault on New Zealand's bowlers has continued here on the second morning of the Second Test. At an early lunch, the hosts are positioned at the whopping score of 7/488, after losing only Shane Warne (70) in the opening 80 minutes of play on an overcast day at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Though the weather hasn't been particularly sparkling, it has been a morning for the locals to savour with hometown hero Ricky Ponting (127*) continuing to unfurl some terrific strokes in an innings that has brought him his ninth Test century. The right hander has again been assured off both the front and back foot, with precious few false strokes featuring in his exhibition.

Together with Warne, he extended his stand for the seventh wicket to a mark of 145 runs in a display which showed signs of completely dispiriting the New Zealanders. And theirs soon became a record seventh wicket stand in Tests at the venue, erasing the previous best of 124 established by Sri Lanka's Asoka de Silva and Ravi Ratnayeke back in 1989-90.

Before falling to an inside edge into his stumps in the first over bowled in the innings by veritable partnership breaker Nathan Astle (1/9), Warne struck his first Test half century in two years to thoroughly reinforce the advantage that his team had already established by virtue of its run scoring spree yesterday.

With a blanket of mist enveloping Mount Wellington to the west and grey clouds also banking further south, prospects of a full morning of play were always in doubt. And so it proved 40 minutes before the scheduled lunch break when a sharp burst of rain hit the ground.

Ponting's century had been registered a matter of 10 minutes into the new day with a neat glide to the third man boundary off paceman Shane Bond (1/115). Aside from the fall of Warne, there haven't been too many good moments for the tourists since. The rain proved a welcome respite.