Close Australia 558 for 8 dec (Langer 123, Hayden 91, Ponting 157*, Warne 70, Vettori 5-138)
Scorecard

It was a stop-start day at Hobart: there was 80 minutes' play at the start of the day, then 48 more minutes at the end … with a five-hour rain delay in the middle. In that time Australia skeetered to an imposing total of 558 for 8, before Steve Waugh declared to give New Zealand a tricky eight overs before the close. But he was thwarted when the umpires decided it was too dark for a restart.

The star of the play that was possible was a hometown hero. Ricky Ponting made up for his three previous Test innings at the Bellerive Oval – 4, 0 and 0, the last two a pair against Pakistan – with a sparkling, chanceless 157. It was his ninth Test century, but his first against New Zealand. He also galloped past 3000 Test runs during his innings, with a sweet pull for six off Shane Bond. And he hit 19 fours for good measure.

Ponting was well supported by Shane Warne, who cut and parried his way to 70 in a stand of 145. He hit 11 fours before he drove firm-footedly at Nathan Astle and inside-edged into his stumps (481 for 7). It was the 107th over of the innings – but Astle's first. He also took a wicket in his first over in the first Test, so Stephen Fleming missed a trick by not calling him up earlier.

There was still no respite for New Zealand, as now Brett Lee threw the bat effectively. He raced to 41 from 55 balls, once leaning back to carve Bond over point for six, and later mowing Daniel Vettori rather more agriculturally over midwicket. Lee and Ponting had clattered 77 runs in 17 overs when a slog too far ballooned to Craig McMillan on the midwicket boundary (558 for 8). It was a fifth wicket for the persevering Vettori.

Waugh declared immediately, but his hopes of a dart at the New Zealanders were stymied by the weather. The clouds were too low and too intense for the umpires' liking.

For the second Test running, New Zealand have a mountain to climb. They will need 359 just to avoid the follow-on – and their batsmen will have to show greater application and inspiration than the bowlers, who leaked runs at exactly 4.5 an over, to make a game of it.

Play will continue for another hour tonight, weather permitting, and an extra hour will be tagged on to each of the remaining days. Play will start half-an-hour earlier tomorrow, at 10.30am local time, and will finish 30 minutes later than usual at 6.30.

Teams
Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Mark Waugh, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

New Zealand 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Matthew Bell, 3 Mathew Sinclair, 4 Stephen Fleming (capt), 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Adam Parore (wk), 8 Chris Cairns, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Shane Bond.

Blow by Blow How the day unfolded: the long version

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