Head, Marsh steady after horror start to run chase

New Zealand are excitedly eyeing their first Test win over arch-rivals Australia on their home patch in more than 30 years after a dominant day with the bat and a new-ball assault that again exposed deep issues with Australia's top-order batting.

Needing their biggest successful run chase since last year's famous Ashes win at Edgbaston where second-last pair Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon got them home pursuing 281, Australia ended day three 4-77 with Travis Head 17no and Mitchell Marsh unbeaten on 27, still 202 runs shy of their target.

Set 279 across more than two days to keep intact their undefeated streak against the Black Caps that stretches back more than 12 years, Australia's worryingly familiar top-order fragility returned as they crashed to 4-34 having reached 300 just once in their past seven innings.

The sell-out Sunday crowd at Hagley had anticipated something special might be in the making from ball one this morning, cheering every run and standing in salute at each milestone moment before erupting in delirium when wickets tumbled in quick succession at the start of Australia's chase.

The loudest roar came when Matt Henry continued his demolition of Australia's shellshocked batters by pinning Steve Smith in front of his stumps at the start of the eighth over which began the visitors' freefall.

Apart from his unbeaten 91 in the second innings of Australia's previous unexpected Test defeat to West Indies at Brisbane, Smith's installation as opening replacement for David Warner has yielded scores of 12, 11no, 6, 31, 0, 11 and 9.

Of potentially greater concern is the similarity in most of those dismissals, either caught behind the wicket as he shuffled across his stumps or – as was the case against Henry today – getting trapped in front when the new ball deviates off the seam.

Smith was of the view the delivery that brought his downfall might have been clearing the stumps as it thudded into his back leg, but the early loss was compounded by the forfeiture of a review which upheld the exultant Black Caps' certainty.

The introduction of debutant fast bowler Ben Sears in the ninth over should have brought instant reward when Marnus Labuschagne was undone by the additional pace and bounce and edged to first slip, where Daryl Mitchell failed to hold the knee-high chance to his right.

But Sears – whose maiden Test scalp was Smith in the first innings – turned his disbelief into elation two balls later when Labuschagne looked to turn a fuller delivery on the leg side only to have it hold up on the surface and loop from near the splice on his 'old faithful' bat back to a grateful bowler.

At 2-22, Australia's hopes seemingly rested with reigning Test player of the year Usman Khawaja and recently installed number four Cameron Green whose 174no in the opening Test at Wellington remains the only century of this bowler-dominated series.

However, Khawaja also fell in previously-seen circumstances when he was pushed back in his crease by Henry with the resultant edge brilliantly snared by Tim Southee who flung himself low to his left and kept the ball in his fingertips as he crashed to the turf.

While Smith has found struggles at the top of the order, Khawaja has also battled to regain his sublime touch of last year's Ashes with a solitary score above 50 in his past 12 innings.

And when Green's late decision to try and leave a ball from Sears that bounced more than the allrounder anticipated and took a bottom edge before crashing into the base of middle stump, Australia were in tatters at 4-34 and still 245 from a seemingly improbable win.

Their sole source of solace might be hewn from similarities they can draw from last summer's corresponding Test at Hagley Oval, when the Black Caps successfully reeled in a last-day victory target of 285 against Sri Lanka after the loss of early wickets in their pursuit,

But even then, the 2-50 that became 3-90 before Kane Williamson's unbeaten century saw his team home in a nail-biter with two wickets in hand seems less incredible than Australia in their current batting form recovering from 4-34.

The other glimmer of hope for Pat Cummins' men is the hard-won knowledge the Hagley pitch is at its most threatening when the ball is new, as was shown earlier today as the skipper dragged his team back into the contest with four crucial wickets.

NZ appeared set for a lead of 300-plus as Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra put together a century partnership for the fourth-wicket, but the second new ball triggered a late-order collapse of 7-118 from 28.2 overs.

The damage would have been even greater had Labuschagne clung on to a low slips catch off allrounder Scott Kuggeleijn who added 42 invaluable runs after his let-off.

Predictions that day three at Hagley was invariably the easiest to bat seemed prudent when Tom Latham and Ravindra resumed this morning, with NZ 2-134 and holding a 40-run lead.

It took a canny review from Cummins in the day's sixth over to make the initial breakthrough, just as the opener threatened to put his team in an impregnable position.

There was some initial reluctance to call for third-umpire intervention after the ball from Cummins fizzed the left-hander's inside edge and thudded into his rear thigh pad before looping through to 'keeper Alex Carey, who had dropped a tough chance off Latham (then on 59) the previous evening.

But the video evidence revealed a feather off the bat before the secondary impact to bring a wicket against the run of play.

Ravindra and Mitchell then settled in for the remainder of the morning session, the former posting his second Test half-century against Australia in as many matches with a sweetly struck boundary down the ground off Marsh.

Australia's escalating frustration at their inability to dislodge the fourth-wicket pair was highlighted when part-time spinner Head was tossed the ball either side of the lunch break, which preceded an over of 'filthy mediums' from very occasional bowler Labuschagne.

The less-than-15 overs Labuschagne had sent down over the preceding 12 months were exclusively spin, and he took to his latest role with such relish he was called for a no-ball when the fifth delivery of his sole over exceeded the permitted maximum of three bouncers.

But it proved the preamble to a decisive phase of the match, with Ravindra (73) and Mitchell (45) on the cusp of a hundred-run union and the Black Caps lead already beyond 150.

Early evidence suggested the new ball, with its raised seam gaining maximum benefit from the well-grassed surface, might not prove the difference Australia's bowlers hoped.

That changed immediately after Mitchell reached his half-century and celebrated with consecutive boundaries off Josh Hazlewood – a controlled edge wide of second slip, and a brazen carve over the cordon – at which point the bowler took the last laugh.

Just as he had done on day one, Hazlewood landed on the perfect length and generated sufficient seam movement to find the edge of the well-set batter's blade which triggered an animated celebration from the usually undemonstrative fast bowler.

An even heavier blow was landed by Cummins from his first delivery with the new ball, which climbed more than Ravindra expected from back of a length and clipped high on the bat before nestling in Carey's gloves.

It was one of five catches the 'keeper collected in the innings and, having snaffled as many in NZ's first hit, he thereby equalled the record for most dismissals by an Australia gloveman in a match alongside Adam Gilchrist's 10 in the 2000 Test against their trans-Tasman rivals at Hamilton.

Suddenly, both set batters were gone after they had looked immovable during their 123-run partnership (off 191 balls), and the top half of the Black Caps' order was back in the sheds with the lead barely above 200.

The game seemed to be slipping from them shortly after the drinks break that marked the match's mid-point when 'keeper Tom Blundell shanked a rank half-tracker that was grabbed by Labuschagne diving high to his left at extra cover.

While the catch was almost as spectacular as the one Glenn Phillips reeled in to get rid of Labuschagne a day earlier, bowler Cameron Green was so embarrassed by the loosener that began his new spell at the crease he put a hand over his mouth as if seeking a pardon.

So good was Labuschagne's grab, it was difficult to reconcile his failure to hang on to the low chance at third slip (where he was filling in for Marsh) when Green found the edge of Kuggeleijn's bat with a legitimately good delivery in his next over.

At that stage, NZ were 6-300 and 206 ahead which might well have kept Australia's fourth innings pursuit below 250.

But Kuggeleijn celebrated his good fortune, which continued when he was adjudged caught behind from an attempted pull off Mitchell Starc on 21 but overturned on review, and rode his luck with some lusty hitting.

He belted five boundaries and couple of hefty sixes in his 49-ball stay which ended when he was last man dismissed as Nathan Lyon – who had been used sparingly throughout the innings – mopped up the tail.

Lyon emulated Cummins and Green before him by claiming a key wicket with the opening delivery of a new spell, when he deceived Phillips into an ill-advised attempt to cut that instead saw the ball spin sharply and tilt back off stump.

He then lured both Henry and Kuggeleijn into slogging across the line to be caught in the deep, to snare 3-9 in his post-tea effort off just 14 deliveries.

Qantas Tour of New Zealand

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February 29 – March 4: Australia won the first Test by 172 runs

March 8-12: Second Test, Christchurch, 9am AEDT

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc

New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson, Will Young.