Thrilling finale to Adelaide Test

It was a thrilling finale under lights at the Adelaide Oval as Australia stumbled late then recovered to record a thrilling three-wicket victory over New Zealand.

Shaun Marsh had done all the hard work as he grafted his way towards a half century, but he edged a Trent Boult delivery to Ross Taylor in the slips with 11 runs still required as Peter Siddle strode to the crease.

WATCH: Shaun Marsh's innings highlights

Siddle got off the mark with a flick off the hip just wide of a despairing dive from Ross Taylor. As it trickled towards the boundary, a diving stop from Martin Guptill succeeded only in knocking it back into his body which took it over the line for four valuable runs.

Having got off a pair following his first-innings duck, Siddle then struggled to get away any of Boult's ensuing deliveries as the Kiwis stayed in the contest.

The cool head of Peter Nevill helped reduce Australia's deficit to just five runs, but there was more drama still to come.

BJ Watling took a spectacular catch to dismiss his Australian counterpart from an inside edge that had the Kiwi keeper flying down the leg side.

That brought the injured Mitchell Starc to the crease to the surprise of many – a stress fracture in his right foot made him unlikely to be able to scamper the necessary final runs with any great haste, but his clean hitting in the first innings saw him put in above Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. 

Starc strode out to the middle to a rousing reception with just two runs remaining, but could not make a clean connection on Boult's final delivery of the over, leaving Siddle the job to hit the winning runs off Tim Southee.

It wasn't easy though with the Victoria needing all six balls just to get the remaining two runs.

On the second ball of the over Siddle thought he had done it, but his thunderous straight drive smashed into the stumps at the non-strikers end much to the amazement of the Victorian.

Four balls later and there it was, as Siddle pushed one past cover and clenched his fist in relief as Australia clinched the victory.