New Zealand put hope in 'two fighters at the crease'

New Zealand will be relying on their best batsman, Kane Williamson, and their No. 7 buttress, BJ Watling, as they aim to rebuild on the third day at the Gabba. Williamson and Watling went to stumps with a partnership of 39, and with a deficit of 399, what New Zealand desperately need is a repeat of the remarkable 365-run stand Williamson and Watling compiled against Sri Lanka in Wellington in January.

"The key for us now is keep forging, keep building those partnerships tomorrow," New Zealand's batting coach Craig McMillan said. "We've got two fighters at the crease who have had good success together and have had a lot of good partnerships over the last 18 months, so it's important that those partnerships continue all the way down the order.

"The nature of the order is they'll be looking to score, and from my perspective I'd encourage them to continue to look to score. But it's just [about] making good decisions… Some of the talk was that it's difficult starting, and you saw quite a few guys who didn't really get started or established, and they got knocked over. Once you get in and you've been at the crease for half an hour, 40 minutes, it gets a bit easier."

Williamson in particular has looked untroubled so far in his innings and he went to stumps on 55, but a five-over period in the final session was what cost New Zealand dearly, when Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson claimed four wickets and ran through the middle order. The wickets of the experienced Ross Taylor for a duck and Brendon McCullum for 6 were key for Australia.

"They came hard for a 20-minute period and we made mistakes," McMillan said. "If you make mistakes at this level, quite often it's costly. You have to give them credit for the way they bowled. It didn't swing much, similar to our innings. There wasn't a lot of swing, we thought there might have been a bit more. I thought Tom Latham, a young opener at the top, did a really good job with Guptill. But Australia came back hard."

Starc claimed 2 for 30 and Johnson finished the day with 2 for 52, and the intensity level in the match increased significantly when the two left-armers were bowling in tandem. That chaotic period silenced those who doubted whether Australia could carry two left-arm fast men in the same attack, and Starc said he hoped that Johnson, 34, would be in the team for some time yet.

"It's great to watch and great to be in the same team as him," Starc said. "It's not great to face him in the nets, that's for sure. He's the leader of the attack, bowling fantastically, bowling with great aggression, pace and bounce. He's probably swinging it as well, I can't tell from fine leg.

"It's great to watch him bowl at this best and bowl that aggressive line and length. He's our enforcer I guess. It's great to be in the same team and bowl in partnerships with him. Hopefully he can keep going for a lot longer."

The presence of 556 runs on the board gave Australia licence to attack with the ball, and five wickets in the final session of play - Josh Hazlewood claimed the first of the innings - showed that the pitch was not exactly the road it had appeared while Australia were batting. Starc said there were still opportunities for the bowlers to find something out of the pitch, despite the runs that were scored.

"We always thought there was enough in there," he said. "If you bowl well enough and get the ball in the right areas enough, there will be enough chances to take those wickets. I think it's still a very good wicket... Even though it's a good wicket, the odd one can still do a little bit and it's good pace and carry as well."