Mitch may be thrown the new ball in Adelaide

MITCHELL Johnson finished with five wickets for the first time in a Test innings yesterday as he wrapped up the New Zealand batting to give Australia a 1-0 lead in the Trans-Tasman cricket series.

With victory in the first of the two Tests, Australia retained the trophy after their win by 149 runs at the Gabba in Brisbane.

New Zealand can now only share the series, which means that Australia won’t need to give up the trophy. The second Test starts in Adelaide on Friday.

Yesterday, with New Zealand six wickets down, Johnson, bowling on his home ground, wrapped up the Kiwi tail in just 48 minutes of play. He took three of the four wickets to fall in morning as the Black Caps were dismissed for 177.

Johnson finished with five for 39 off 17.3 overs and nine for the match to be named man of the match ahead of opening batsman Simon Katich, who scored a century in Australia’s second innings.

Johnson also made a valuable 31 with the bat in Australia’s second innings .

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes Johnson, even though he bowls first change, is now his No1 strike bowler and will be the man to lead the attack against South Africa .

“He’s doing everything right ,” said Ponting.

“He has always been a very attacking type of bowler who can probably go for a few boundaries. But for most of the time, he looks like getting wickets .

“That’s the way I’m trying to use him at the moment, as an attacking type, and he’s doing the job .”

Resuming at 143 for six yesterday chasing 327 for an unlikely victory, New Zealand batsmen Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori survived half an hour before Johnson struck.

He had Kiwi skipper Vettori caught for 10 at point .

The left-armer, in his next over, induced an edge from Taylor to end an impressive 128-ball stay for 75.

Stuart Clark then got into the action by having Iain O’Brien caught at point by Michael Clarke.

Tim Southee put the only smiles on the Kiwi faces on the fourth day with two sixes off Clark .

But Chris Martin lasted just four balls, clean bowled by Johnson.

Ponting warned that Johnson was only going to get better.

Johnson’s eyes would have lit up when he saw the juicy Gabba pitch after emerging as Australia’s most successful bowler on the tough tour of India.

“This is definitely one of the best wickets going around ,” he said.

Ponting hinted that Johnson would be thrown the new ball in the second Test in Adelaide.

Sports Staff

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