Debutant paceman James Pattinson spearheaded Australia to a crushing nine-wicket victory in the first Test against New Zealand inside four days at the Gabba on Sunday. Pattinson snared five for 27 including three wickets in four balls to help rout the Black Caps for 150 off 49.4 overs and leave Michael Clarke’s Australians with the formality of chasing just 19 runs for victory. Another debutant, David Warner, hit three fours off four balls to get the winning runs for the loss of Phil Hughes’s wicket as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series to Hobart on Friday. Pattinson narrowly missed a hat-trick as he ripped through the New Zealand top order to put Australia on the path to victory. The 21-year-old fast bowler, on the back of just nine first-class matches, captured 5-7 in seven overs as the Kiwis capitulated under the fierce onslaught. “It hasn’t sunk in right now, I’m just happy we’ve won the first Test and got that rolling for us,” Pattinson said. “The selectors pick us so we can try to do a job for them and I’m just happy to do that for the Australian cricket team. It is a great achievement personally, but it’s great for the team as well.”
Clarke, who now has won three of seven Tests since taking over from Ricky Ponting in January, said the New Zealand win was important for the team’s momentum. “I said after South Africa it was important we continued building momentum from Sri Lanka, and it is no different at the start of the summer. It was important we started well here,” he said.
“We know we’ve got some tough cricket ahead of us, starting in Hobart, but obviously throughout the summer against India as well.” Skipper Ross Taylor said New Zealand had to be tougher on themselves if they were to be competitive in this week’s second Hobart Test.
“James Pattinson put the ball in the right areas enough times for us to nick it, but we’ve still got to be harder on ourselves as a batting unit,” he said. “We know Australia are going to come at us hard again. We need to play a lot better than we played today.” Finger-spinner Nathan Lyon chipped in with three for 19 to finish with seven wickets for the match.
Pattinson, bowling an impressive full length at searing pace, removed Martin Guptill (12), Kane Williamson (0) and skipper Ross Taylor (0) in the space of four balls in his opening over of the day.
Guptill could not keep down a lifter and popped a catch to Usman Khawaja at bat-pad to start the rot. Williamson was out two balls later, edging to Ponting at second slip and Taylor was out next ball snicking to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to leave Pattinson on a hat-trick. Jesse Ryder barely survived Pattinson’s hat-trick ball, a 150 km/h yorker to finish his fifth over with figures of 4-1. Damien Fleming is the only Australian to have taken a hat-trick on his Test debut, in Pakistan in 1994. England’s Maurice Allom and New Zealander Peter Petherick are others with hat-tricks on Test debut. Nightwatchman Doug Bracewell became Pattinson’s fifth victim, caught behind by Haddin for two, leaving the Black Caps at 28 for five in the 13th over.
Pattinson, who received a Cricket Australia contract this year and was picked for the tour of Sri Lanka, surpassed his previous best first-class figures of 4-52 for his state Victoria. Clarke introduced Lyon in the 22nd over and Ryder (36) was lured on his second ball into a false shot to Mike Hussey at mid-off.
Daniel Vettori fell when he attempted to cut part-timer Hussey to Clarke at slip for 17 with two balls left to lunch. After lunch Peter Siddle removed Dean Brownlie for 42. Lyon dismissed Tim Southee and Chris Martin.
