Five overs of fire break New Zealand's back

For five overs late on the second day at the Gabba, Australia's fast bowlers were poetry in motion. Not long, sustained and epic like Byron or Shelley, but short and sharp like Dr Seuss, punchy and full of quick impact. Entertaining, memorable. Oh, the places New Zealand's batsmen will go when Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc fire up. Mostly back to the dressing room.

Such was the state of play after two days that the follow-on appears a real possibility. Michael Clarke did not enforce the follow-on until the final match of his captaincy career; in his first Test as full-time captain Steven Smith may find his hand forced by the likelihood of rain over the next three days. Only Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, the tail and 200 runs stand between him and the chance.

Prepared by the forgotten Mitch - curator Kevin Mitchell jnr - this pitch is full of runs, as evidenced by Australia's 4 for 556 declared. Williamson too has scored easily, and could only watch on as minor carnage unfolded at the other end in the final session. It took five sessions for New Zealand's bowlers to claim four wickets; Starc and Johnson achieved the same in five overs.

Runs had been piled on during the first five sessions of this game - Australia scored at 4.26 an over - but nothing lifts the intensity like a fierce spell of fast bowling. From the 31st over of New Zealand's innings to the 35th, you couldn't look away from the action as Starc and Johnson made things happen, after Josh Hazlewood earlier picked up a wicket from a super David Warner catch.

Tom Latham had played so well for his 47 that he was living up to the description given him by Hazlewood in the lead-up to the game - that he was New Zealand's Chris Rogers. But he threw the bat at Starc and gifted him the wicket that started the brief chaos, slicing a catch to Nathan Lyon at point. The Australians wanted a chance at Ross Taylor, and now they had it.

Five years ago in Hamilton, Taylor showed Australia why he is such a dangerous batsman, racing to the fastest Test century by a New Zealander, an 81-ball effort that came up with a searing cut for four - it nearly cleared the rope - off Johnson. But the way Taylor is batting at the moment, it seems like a different batsman entirely.

Almost every ball that he faced had a sense of theatre, and threat. A yorker that he jammed down on, a drive that fell short of cover, a searing seamer that zipped past his edge, a miss down the leg side that had Australia's slips interested in a possible edge. All of those were from Starc.

Then came a quick and nasty bumper from Johnson that he fended just wide of leg gully. And then came the wicket, as Taylor shuffled across and edged Johnson to second slip for a seven-ball duck. What a difference five years makes. Since the start of 2014 Taylor has averaged 31.75 in Tests; he is a class player at his best, but it is getting harder and harder to remember his best.

The pressure wasn't about to ease. Brendon McCullum ducked into a Starc bouncer at 141kph, in what became the only one of these five overs that did not feature a wicket. It didn't need to, for it helped set up the one that arrived in Johnson's next over. The first ball was short and steered through third man for four, the second edged to slip when third man went back.

What was missing from this period? What would cap it off? A yorker from Starc to rattle the stumps, much like the 17-odd times he did so during the Matador Cup. Duly he delivered, the allrounder Jimmy Neesham no match for the weapon. Starc's white-ball form this year has been phenomenal; Australia will be greatly encouraged that he has started the red-ball summer well.

Seeing such a spell from Johnson on his first day of Test bowling this summer was just as fine an omen for Australia. It was a cameo by Johnson's own high standards, but he is 34 and in the twilight of his career, and a cameo is still worth watching. His former team-mate, Chris Rogers, commentating on ABC radio, said he had expected Johnson to join him in retirement after the Ashes this year.

"I had a feeling that Johnson was going to call it quits after the Ashes," Rogers said. "He just has to take so much from the crowd, and it is the same over and over and over again. It just wears you down. Having to kind of always respond to the crowd over and over when you're thinking about doing your job, you can see how it would get frustrating."

Indeed, Johnson took a break from the game after the Ashes; he did not play in the one-day series that followed, and he was to be rested from October's Test tour of Bangladesh, which was cancelled in any case. When he finally returned midway through the Matador Cup he was refreshed, bowling fast, and ready to attack another summer. Angry Mitch was back.

In five overs he and Starc demolished the New Zealand middle order, Williamson excepted. Hazlewood was encouraging, and Nathan Lyon helped to build pressure. The Trans-Tasman Trophy might have been a wonderful Christmas present this year for a New Zealand team with great potential. The Australian grinches have made a pretty good start to stealing their hopes.