Ross Taylor broke a 112-year-old record with a magnificent 290 to drive New Zealand to a first-innings lead of 65 over Australia on the fourth day of the second test on Monday.
The 31-year-old righthander was caught in the deep just before lunch after more than nine hours at the crease to bring and end to New Zealand's innings on 624. Australia's openers David Warner and Joe Burns survived one over before the break without getting off the mark. Taylor's knock was the highest by any visiting batsman in Australia, bettering the record of 287 set by England's Tip Foster on debut in Sydney in 1903.
It was the third highest innings by any New Zealand batsman in a test match, trailing only the 302 scored by Brendon McCullum against India last year and Martin Crowe's 299 against Sri Lanka in 1990-91. It also eclipsed the 253 contributed by Warner to Australia's first innings tally of 559-9 declared, which had looked almost unassailable on day two.
Taylor's mighty 374-ball knock, which was studded with 43 fours, changed all that and New Zealand will have confidence they can at least earn a draw to keep the three-match series alive going into the final test in Adelaide.
New Zealand resumed on 510 for six with Taylor on 235 and it looked like the righthander would only be stopped from reaching 300 by running out of partners. Nathan Lyon (3-107) had his fellow spinner Mark Craig caught for 15, while left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc (4-119) bowled Matt Henry (6) and ended Southee's innings caught and bowled after a quickfire 21 from the tailender. Trent Boult is by far the weakest of the New Zealand batsmen but he hung around for 33 balls, scoring 23 not out, to give Taylor every chance of reaching the triple century.
It was not to be, however, and Taylor was clearly furious with himself when, with lunch in sight, he miscued a slog sweep off Lyon and a thick top edge took the ball to substitute fielder Jonny Wells at deep square leg.
Scorecard at end of New Zealand first innings on the fourth day in the second Test against Australia:
Australia 1st innings:
J Burns b Henry 40
D Warner c Craig b Boult 253
U Khawaja c Latham b Bracewell 121
S Smith c Watling b Henry 27
A Voges c Watling b Boult 41
M Marsh c and b Bracewell 34
P Nevill st Watling b Craig 19
M Johnson st Watling b Craig 2
M Starc c Latham b Craig 0
J Hazlewood not out 8
N Lyon not out 4
Extras (4b, 1lb, 1w, 4nb) 10
Total (9 wickets declared; 133 overs) 559
Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-403, 3-427, 4-462, 5-512, 6-539, 7-547, 8-547, 9-547
Bowling: Southee 29-6-88-0, Boult 26-2-123-2, Henry 22-2-105-2, Bracewell 25-1-81-2, Craig 23-0-123-3, Williamson 3-0-11-0, Guptill 3-0-7-0, McCullum 2-0-16-0
New Zealand 1st innings:
M Guptill lbw Starc 1
T Latham c Smith b Lyon 36
K Williamson c Johnson b Hazlewood 166
R Taylor c sub b Lyon 290
B McCullum b Marsh 27
BJ Watling c Lyon b Starc 1
D Bracewell c Neville b Johnson 12
M Craig c Johnson b Lyon 15
M Henry b Starc 6
T Southee c and b Starc 21
T Boult not out 23
Extras (b7, lb11, w5, nb3) 26
Total (all out, 153.5 overs) 624
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-87, 3-352, 4-432, 5-447, 6-485, 7-525, 8-554, 9-587, 10-624
Bowling: Starc 37-7-119-4, Hazlewood 32-2-134-1, Johnson 28-2-157-1, Lyon 37.5-6-107-3, Marsh 15-1-73-1, Smith 4-0-16-0.
