MacGill puts Blues on course for victory

New South Wales 0 for 25 and 286 need another 104 runs to beat New Zealanders 213 and 201 (Sinclair 79, Richardson 50, MacGill 4-52)
Scorecard

MacGill's spell of 4 for 52 triggered a remarkable collapse © Getty Images Enlarge

New Zealand's preparations for the first Test against Australia were dealt a severe blow when a tremendous spell of legspin bowling from Stuart MacGill sent them hurtling towards defeat in the tour opener against New South Wales. Having started their second innings 73 in arrears, the New Zealanders had made fairly comfortable progress to 3 for 183 when MacGill triggered off a collapse that saw them lose their last seven wickets for just 18 runs. At stumps on the penultimate day, New South Wales were 0 for 25, needing ony 104 more for victory.

Until that almighty wobble, the New Zealanders had enjoyed the better of the day's exchanges. Jacob Oram had clean bowled both Brett Lee and MacGill first thing in the morning to keep the lead to well below a hundred, and then Mathew Sinclair and Mark Richardson had added 110 for the first wicket. MacGill broke that partnership, when Richardson tried to whack one over midwicket, and though Hamish Marshall went for 0, Scott Styris and Craig McMillan joined hands with Sinclair to build on the slender lead.

But once Sinclair was bowled by Matthew Nicholson (2 for 31), it all unravelled rapidly for the tourists, with Lee (2 for 37) and Jason Krejza (2 for 48) also among the wickets. MacGill's match haul of 8 for 109 would have been noted by a certain Shane Warne, more so given New Zealand's traditional frailty against quality spin bowling.

But for Sinclair, whose knock of 79 supplemented his 88 in the first innings, there was little encouragement from this batting display. And a vast improvement will be needed once Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle and Daniel Vettori return if New Zealand aren't to be rolled over by the rampaging Austraians at the Gabba.