Far too full for the pull. Warner had been in a go slow mode so fooled himself.

Burns did the same but got a life. Fair deal as he was denied one in the first innings.

De Groundhomme’s running and diving dropped catch off Marnus’ mistimed pull at mid off from Wagner’s bowling could prove costly. He was only on 5 runs. 

Just as I was thinking Santner was bowling well, Burns hits  a thunderous straight drive for 4 off his bowling. 

The TCA boys’ consensus is 440 in front, Baggers. 

A lead of 356 already is ominous for the Kiwis. 

Labu and Burns are increasing the scoring rate. 

Labu has a strike rate  of 70 for his 35 runs. 

Do they think a declaration tonite and put em in for say 10 overs under lites before stumps. If so these two need to raise the scoring rate as there appears to be no real urgency at the moment with only an hours play left and only 380 in front.

Labuchagne with a half century to go with his three tons in his last three Tests. Can he make it four on the trot?

No.

Aus collapse under Kiwi 120 kph plus short ball attack under lights! 

Well directed by Southee and Wagner!

Gutsy stuff from Wade, who at least has some match awareness. The ball must be tough to pick up under lights, he's making Wagner and his 120 something pies look like a fired up Curtly Ambrose lol. Southee has bowled well all match. The wicket of Burns and particularly Paine were beauties. Poor batting from the rest though. We might be way in front, but there is no excuse, we really needed to stay in till at least middle of session two this afternoon. Give our bowlers a good go at them under lights.

Tipping that Wagner will clean up with his short stuff now, with the lead heading to 450 and the batsmen (except for Wade so far) not prepared to let them go through. He'll save us the trouble of declaring. Seems to be his MO. Great attitude though, seems indefatigable.

Has Smith made a rod for his back here? The poms had it worked out after a few matches, but every fast bowler around the world must be taking notice of this. It's not as though he is troubled by the shortish ball over leg stump either, just hits them straight off the middle of the bat to the (no doubt very grateful) field. Either can't help himself (ego?) or the way he shuffles across doesn't allow him to evade it.

Got to give props to Starc so far also. Has improved considerably since he was dropped. That short ball that got CDG was a brute. Has bowled very well.

If NZ are 417 behind with another 4 wickets to take, they could be in with a chance with only two hours or so playing under lights later today and until the last session of  the 5 day Test. 

 That is, if  the pitch doesn't have too many demons in it.  

If the Kiwis take the last 4 wickets quickly today, they have a  good 3 sessions in daylight with a soft pink ball. The could conceivably score 300 runs against an undermanned Aussie attack in those daylight sessions.

Apparently, Wade and Burns are colourblind and struggle to see the pink ball under lights.

Kiwi bowlers, Wagner and Southee, have demonstrated that well directed short balls,  targeting   that blind spot under the ribs, are more effective in the 120s than much quicker, less accurate short balls around 140kph.

It has made for very interesting cricket.

I love the way the Kiwis have never given up too. 

De Groundhomme at 120 kph, is a more effective bowler than Wade at 128 kph.  I'd love to have an unerringly accurate medium pace bowler like DG in the Aus line up. His action take spittle out of him off something like a short 7 pace run up too.

I also like the way that Santner's balls skid off the pitch as though there is more backspin imparted on the ball. Given the number of times he has beaten the bat, he deserves more wickets.

It just shows that in cricket  a cricketer is only as good as their last Test or series.

Smith and Cummins starred in England. This Test, and in the preceding Pakistan series, Labu has continued his good form, whilst Warner and Starc have improved on home pitches. I think Smith is struggling by his own lofty standards, but Cummins has bowled devoid of luck.

Yes, CDG has always seemed to look dangerous at 120 kph, strangely enough. I don't believe for a moment that the slower short balls are more effective as much as being played poorly at the moment though. I suppose when that's all you get and with a sizeable first innings lead, the batsmen are far more willing to chance it. That's poor discipline.

Smith is a concern. He's generally been scoring at a snails pace ever since he got back from England (was going at about 20 runs per hundred in shield cricket), it's as though he struggles to hit the ball off the square at times. He is going to get peppered by teams now, largely his own fault. Still, can't stay in form forever.

I also think Santner looks a bit ordinary. Seems to be a "straight break" arm ball specialist who will need lots of help from the pitch. Would be useful in odi cricket though. Still, our own "straight break" specialist O'keefe has some great performances and could arguably have been in the test team for years, on bowling performance alone.

Good day, JJ.

I often see this on sports forums, but you seem to have it in for Paine, JJ.

Other TCA Members have told me  he is now considered the best keeper in the world.  I can't verify it, because a lot of the Murdoch press  has pay walls. Maybe the  non-selected English keeper, Foakes, could be superior?

Then add  Paine's  leadership qualities, and he has overseen Australia regain the public's respect, and, has started winning series, including retaining the Ashes.

If anyone saw the Fox coverage where he took the reporter into the Aus dressing rooms, he is unequivocally the leader of men. His eloquence, dry wit, and manifest greater maturity, was apparent for all to see, as he stirred Smith, Hazlewood and Head with witty one liners in front of the camera, in a fatherly sort of manner.

 The rest of the team like him  captaining the team, always relaxing under pressure, and taking the pressure off the rest of them.

Paine also seeks tactical advice from more experienced team-mates in Tests on the ground, because he is so comfortable with the captaincy role.  

He has also had played a lot of cricket as Tas vice captain under George Bailey - in a very successful epoch. Leadership comes  naturally to  Paine and he is very experienced.

There is no doubt he is the best captain  in terms of being a statesperson, since Mark Taylor. He may be just as good, even better.

Michael Vaughan alluded to the blind spot batters have under their ribs, facing short balls.

Wagner's short pitched balls are very well directed in line, and height to this area.

Stats show he takes more wickets with short balls than any other Test bowler in the world.

CDG is a classy all rounder. I'm not sure what his batting average is though?

Would explain it. Wade didn't seem to be picking the ball up at all much of the time. Was reminding me of the Waugh/Ambrose battle where he just stood there and let the ball hit him. Simply wasn't going to get out, nor play the short ball. Gutsy stuff.

Once the game resumes in daylight, Wade should  see the ball more easily.

His game plan was probably to survive, however, then cash in today in bright light.

Gday Paddles
jj - I live in Mandurah which is a seaside town 80k's south of Perth.
Unfortunately I have not been able to get up to Perth to see the cricket live & have not yet even
been into the Stadium. On my bucket list for next year.
Did phone NZ yesterday to rub salt into the wounds whilst we were ahead & enjoyed same.

Gday Dc
jj- At the time we wasted 90 minutes of cricket scoring very little. Bear in mind this was before
Starc & Hazlewood unleashed & Hazlewood injured.
I was looking ahead at the weather for the quick's to bowl the next day & we should have been looking
at scoring quickly & put NZ in for last 30min of the second session.
More of a chance to pick up wickets & any time spent bowling in less heat the better.
Obviously Paine was prepared to make the quick's bowl in the heat as much as possible the next day.

That's because he would bowl more short balls than all other bowlers in the world (probably combined lol). Not buying Vaughan's argument, as much as bouncers in that area can be more difficult to evade and can result in batsmen playing them or trying to fend them off. They see them every bit as well, and that would be down to footwork. Which seems to be a problem for Smith at the moment. Our other batsmen have just got out to poor shots. Travis Head...terrible. The Southee bouncer to Burns was a beauty though, really got up on him, probably worth a bit of short stuff with the pitch being a little "up and down". 

Wagner tends to clean up with short stuff when the opposition have a big lead and are prepared to chance their arm (particularly the lower order batsmen). That would usually be a plan when they run out of ideas for most teams. If the kiwis are happy for it to be plan a, that would be to our advantage more often than not. As the first innings score would indicate (and the way our last match panned out). Fans seem to enjoy itthough. Our batsmen shouldn't get too complacent, it ain't over yet.

Yes CDG is a very good cricketer. The whole kiwi squad seem to be fighters who never give up. It's been an enthralling match.

Gday Dc
jj- As for Paine my view re him has been well stated.
To sum it up, as far as I am concerned he is the worst modern day captain Australia has had.
As for his keeping - in only this test, missed stumping's, missed catches & missed run outs.
The sooner we are rid of him the better.

The bowling is hardly express yet some of our blokes played the short ball terribly. Threw away their wickets when we clearly controlled the match.

We need Wade to bat on for at least a session with the tail. The slowish short stuff will be easier to play when not under lights, but will they be able to resist? To have them in for a while before tea would be ideal, but it is looking more likely that we will be all out, rather than call the innings quits.

Hasn't had an outstanding match so far, for sure. That missed run out was very ordinary. He batted ok in the first, but got a good one from Southee in second innings. Has generally done a great job under difficult circumstances.

He says himself that his future is uncertain beyond this season. Our problem is that the next in line (Carey) seems far worse with the gloves. It's looking as though Smith might well get the job back when Paine retires. Not sure that's ideal (nothing to do with sand paper), as much as Smith just doesn't seem a great leader, he would be a better tactical Captain though. Finding a good keeper is going to be more difficult than replacing him as Captain.

edit.

Gday fs
jj - A lot of people misunderstand my criticism of Paine.
I do think he is a great bloke & has had to cope with captaincy under trying conditions, where CA has not helped
and no one in the wings except Smith.
However all this has no bearing on how he should be rated as a captain - he is the captain of the number 1 sports team
in Australia & this is what I base my rating on.
When he retires, I will acknowledge the effort he put in which is a totally separate issue to his captaincy.
I have stated for a long time that Smith will be the next captain & in my view, because of what has happened will be a far better captain for it.
Just look at media & advertising coverage of those in the current team. Smith is everywhere, all posting this positive image of
him - this to me is the hint who is being looked at to take over.
Who else is there = 0.
As far as keepers go, is Wade still in contention & is this why he is still in the team - 
backup should Paine become injured with a view to taking over?
I don't know enough about any of the current keepers to suggest one.

Other interesting point - who is going to replace Hazlewood & will Wade or Head be dropped for an all rounder
& if so who will it be?

So Smith was out in the World Cup to NZ's leg slip plan. England got him with it later in the Ashes. And Wagner is 3/4 dismissed him with short balls from innings bowled to him. Interesting. I think Smith can expect a lot more short stuff from now on. 

Just doing an interesting comparison of Wagner to an all time great bowler who rarely got the new ball either. Fairly interesting results. Might need to work on the average a bit more though for Wagner. 

http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerWicketAnalysisGraph.asp?PlayerID=3967

http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerWicketAnalysisGraph.asp?PlayerID=1856

jj there are many keepers far worse than Paine.. Carey aint one of them. You dont hold the Shield wicket keeping record if you are a dud keeper. I think CA has two blokes on short list for future captain.. Carey and Labuchagne. Cummins perhaps.. not sure he wants the job. Gotta have your heart in it I expect to be a good skipper. As for Carey, having another skipper/keeper may not be the way to go. A thankless and difficult job which Paine has accomplished with his usual professionalism. Smith clone Labuchagne seems to be garnering favor to hold the top job. A big ask just to walk into the national captaincy without any experience.