Bracewell needs to work on no-balls - Martin

Doug Bracewell, the New Zealand seamer, must use the error of dismissing Australia captain Michael Clarke with a no-ball as a spur to ensure it does not happen again, Chris Martin, the senior New Zealand fast bowler, has said.

Bracewell, who had received praise from his captain Ross Taylor before the Test, could have dismissed Clarke three times. He bowled Clarke on the second day, but had overstepped. On the third, he had two catches dropped off his bowling, by keeper Reece Young when Clarke was on 85 and by Jesse Ryder when Clarke had scored 106. Clarke went on to get a match-shaping 139.

Martin, who bowled tidily and dismissed Ricky Ponting, said Bracewell had to take the episode as a lesson and revealed the matter had already been discussed in the dressing-room. "He's had a rough day," Martin said. "He's definitely a wicket-taker and he bowls wicket-taking balls. The field let him down today and he let himself down yesterday with the no-ball. These are all parts of the game, where you can turn the screws and we didn't really do that. He'll be a bit disappointed."

Bracewell bowled five no-balls in his debut Test, against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, and bowled another five in Australia's first innings at the Gabba. Martin said it was something he would have to work on between Tests. "If it's happened a couple of times in your first two Tests you have to pause and have a look at it and know that you're probably cutting a fine line there. It'll be playing on his mind a little but it's something you can't really focus on during the game. He can work on it between Tests, the conversation has already begun and he was a lot better today. He wasn't having as many conversations with the umpire about where his foot was landing."

After holding their own against Australia on the first and second days, New Zealand were undone by dropped chances on the third, and Martin acknowledged the missed opportunities had allowed the hosts to take control of proceedings, despite a series of solid spells by the New Zealand bowlers.

"We created plenty of chances, probably enough to still be in the fight but we just didn't take the catches today. It is a difficult stadium to spot the ball in but we are an international team that needs to be taking catches on any ground. Frustrating, but we'll have to take that on the chin today.

"There were periods in which we built good pressure but when we got that opportunity we didn't take it and they changed the momentum through the ineptness of our catching. That was the tough thing today.

"The positives were the fact we did create those chances so the guys can walk away and know they can compete against this batting outfit. It's just a matter of doing it consistently through the day. There were periods when we chased wickets, which was probably not the right thing to do on that pitch."

Ponting and Martin were involved in a sustained duel on the third morning that ended when Martin whirred a delivery towards leg stump to win an lbw verdict, which withstood a DRS referral. Ponting's poor form in the last two years had put him under the scanner but Martin said Ponting was still as good as he was the last time Martin played against him.

"The hype and media surrounding players is always a little bit intriguing to me. I didn't think he [Ponting] looked any different than when I bowled to him in the past. It's always a challenge to attack the stumps with him, it's a little bit of a risk and today it paid off for me. But he looked fine, he was starting to hit on the up and do things that Ricky Ponting would usually do. It was good to get him at that stage of the game."