Close Australia (486 for 9 dec and 84 for 2 dec) drew with New Zealand (287 for 8 dec, Astle 66, Cairns 61, Lee 5-67 and 273 for 6, Richardson 57, Fleming 57, Warne 3-89).
Scorecard

A match that looked set to peter out came to life on a sensational final day as New Zealand gave Australia one hell of a scare at the Gabba. Set 284 to win off 57 overs, they finished only 10 runs short after a pulsating finish to the first Test. The final day alone contained 459 runs, 11 wickets and 102.4 overs. A game is never dead when Steve Waugh is involved.

Australia had their old heads to thank for getting them out of jail. Glenn McGrath was mesmeric, Shane Warne took wickets at crucial times, and Steve Waugh ran out his opposite number Stephen Fleming brilliantly when the heat was really on.

McGrath, so listless in the first innings, was not given the new ball for the first time in a Test innings in Australia, and Steve Waugh's psychological ploy worked perfectly. First McGrath applied the brakes after New Zealand had got off to a flyer and then, with the slog on, he got through eight overs for only 41 runs. It was tremendous bowling.

But for all that, New Zealand will look back on this match as a missed opportunity. When Warne and McGrath were brought back they needed 101 off 16 overs with seven wickets in hand, and Fleming and Nathan Astle were motoring.

Then Astle sliced a leg-side hoick off Warne to mid-off for 49 (190 for 4), and when Waugh, with only one stump to aim at, icily ran out Fleming from mid-on (213 for 5), it looked as if Australia were strangling the life out of New Zealand's run-chase. With five overs left, New Zealand needed 52.

The pendulum was to swing again though. Steve Waugh put down Cairns at extra cover, and Craig McMillan pulled McGrath mightily over midwicket for six in an over that went for 14. A target of 38 from four became 21 from 3 after Cairns and McMillan assaulted Warne's 18th over, both hammering him over long-on for massive sixes.

New Zealand were strong favourites, but McGrath's 19th over yielded just a single as McMillan desperately tried to lay a bat on a series of wide deliveries that evoked memories of flippin' murder at Bulawayo in 1996-97.

Steve Waugh then gambled by replacing Warne with Brett Lee, and it paid off second ball when Cairns unerringly picked out Ricky Ponting at long-on. Another brilliant innings from Cairns (43 off 38 balls) had come to an end, and with it went New Zealand's chance of victory. They needed 15 off McGrath's last over, but could muster only five singles. When the dust settled on a breathtaking day, Australia had drawn their first Test in 24. The last was a rain-ruined one against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo in October 1999.

That a result was at all possible owed everything to an enterprising declaration from Fleming, which enquired as to Steve Waugh's masculinity just enough for Waugh to dangle a tempting carrot in return. That New Zealand got so close is to their immense credit, but they will know they are unlikely to get another chance.

A gloriously sunny day had started with New Zealand on 186 for 5 in their first innings, still 101 short of avoiding the follow-on. Astle and Cairns (who cracked a rollicking 61 off 70 balls) extended their sixth-wicket partnership to 95 before a pumped-up Lee snaffled them both in the space of three deliveries. Astle feathered an outswinger to Adam Gilchrist (242 for 6) and Cairns's thrilling innings ended when he scooped to cover (243 for 7).

Lee took his fifth wicket when Adam Parore was taken beautifully by Steve Waugh in the gully (271 for 8), but the injured Dion Nash bravely saw New Zealand to the 287 they needed to avoid the follow-on.

Fleming threw down the gauntlet by immediately declaring, and any doubt as to Waugh's response was erased when Gilchrist strode out with Matthew Hayden. Gilchrist made a quickfire 20 as Australia raced to 84 for 2 from 14 overs before the second declaration.

New Zealand were up for the chase from the start. Matthew Bell went lbw to McGrath's first ball, but Mark Richardson hit a crisp 57 to take NZ to 89 for 1. Then Warne struck twice in as many overs. Richardson was lbw as he missed a sweep (89 for 2), and Sinclair was lured down the track by a delivery that drifted onto his pads and then spat sharply past the outside edge. Gilchrist did the necessary and Sinclair was gone for 23 (90 for 3).

At that point it looked like New Zealand might cut their losses and settle for a draw. But Fleming was having none of that, and when he and Astle cuffed Lee and Gillespie around in a fourth-wicket partnership of 100 in 18 overs, there was a whiff of Headingley 2001 in the air and Australia were under real pressure.

It was then that McGrath came to the party, and though his match figures of 1 for 146 were in stark contrast to the 10 for 29 he returned against West Indies on this ground last year, he had again delivered like a true champion when it mattered.

Rob Smyth is a staff writer with Wisden.com.

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