BRISBANE, Australia: 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 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.
