Australians to face rickety New Zealand top order

Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee will sharpen their knives for the New Zealand batsmen after the tourists' top order again wobbled at the end an eventful day against Queensland in the tour match at the Gabba today.

The Australian pace bowlers would have enjoyed watching the Black Caps crumble to 3-9 in their second innings, and it would have been 4-25 if Martin Love had clung to a catch at first slip from Craig McMillan.

The Black Caps crawled away from the top order collapse to reach 3-53 at stumps on the third day, leading the Bulls by 150 runs with just one day to play.

New Zealand still took confidence from the day following the performance of Chris Cairns, who began slipping into a groove with 5-71 as Queensland's strong batting line-up was dismissed for 347.

It was the first real sign of life for the Black Caps bowlers, with Cairns attempting a hat-trick during a fall of 7-76, on a wicket that gave very little help to the bowlers.

"Getting two wickets on this deck was a bag (of wickets) but it was nice to be progressing and bowling some tighter lines," Cairns said.

"On a wicket like that you're not going to blast people out. It's a matter of being patient and waiting for batsmen to make a mistake."

Cairns is returning from knee surgery and his performance today, along with the news that spinner Daniel Vettori is likely to play the first Test on Thursday, should boost New Zealand's hopes.

But the Black Caps' top order now has some questions to answer after another shaky innings, rescued only by the patience of McMillan (20 not out) and Mathew Sinclair (17 not out).

It took just three balls for Michael Kasprowicz (1-9) to knock over Mark Richardson with a regulation catch behind before Test squad member Andrew Bichel claimed the wickets of Matthew Bell (four) and captain Stephen Fleming (zero) in three balls.

Richardson and Bell came to Australia with a solid reputation but the pair has managed partnerships of zero, 10 and nine in its most recent outings, leaving them with the prospect of a short life-span in the Tests.

It won't get easier on Thursday when Gabba curator Kevin Mitchell Jr is expected to produce a wicket which will contain the typical Brisbane spice on the first day.

It has been missing throughout this match, enabling Queensland's top six batsmen to build solid starts.

Matthew Hayden went on to make 97, falling to a leading edge off Chris Martin (1-66), but the rest were dismissed between 34 and 48.

Cairns orchestrated a collapse with the second new ball, taking the wickets of Clinton Perren (34) and Wade Seccombe (one) while left-armer Shayne O'Connor (1-43) was rewarded for his consistency with the wicket of Andrew Symonds (48).

The New Zealand bowlers can look forward to another workout tomorrow with Fleming expected to set Queensland a run chase.