Australia admit to playing into Williamson's game

Australia's fast bowlers underestimated Kane Williamson during the Gabba Test and have resolved not to make the same mistake a second time on what looks already to be a parched white WACA pitch.

Lack of Tests between Australia and New Zealand over the past four years had one obvious drawback for the hosts, as they appeared to have missed Williamson's emergence as one of the game's best and brightest young batting talents.

Mitchell Johnson said that Williamson's combination of superior technique and even temperament had surprised him; a fact borne out by the freedom with which New Zealand's No. 3 batsman was able to take Australia's pace spearhead for runs. With the backing of what appears likely to be a decidedly rapid WACA surface, Johnson said the Australians would be keener hunters for Williamson's wicket this time around.

"It is a bit of a surprise to me the way he played - I hadn't seen a lot of him," Johnson said. "I knew about him [but] I didn't realise what a good player he is. He can play all of the shots. He looked good in defence and I am really looking forward to playing him out here on a ground that I really enjoy bowling on and really test myself against him.

"He is obviously in very good form and he is going to go into this game with a lot of confidence. We can bowl better to him. If we put some good balls on him and use our short ball, then I think we are going to be in the game a bit more. I think we have got a lot to improve on with our bowling. I thought we got better and better as the game went on. We didn't start as well as we would have liked to in that first innings but I think we just got better and better.

"He is definitely one who we will talk about in our team meeting today after training. He is very difficult to bowl to. If we build up enough good balls on him, he is going to be like any other player and nick off. I think it is just being a bit more patient. I think we played into his game a little bit. He is really good off the back foot as we saw and he scored some easy runs through that point region and backward point."

Another inattentive element of Australia's Brisbane performance was a substandard fielding display. They dropped catches, including one that cost Johnson the chance to overtake Brett Lee on the list of Test wicket-takers. This will be an area for considerable work in the lead-up to Friday, as evidenced by a one-to-one session between the fielding coach Greg Blewett and Joe Burns, who dropped two chances at short-leg.

"It's disappointing at the time, especially when you've worked so hard on a plan, and you're in your 30th or 40th over and you're absolutely stuffed and a catch goes down," Johnson said. "But look, we all drop them. I've dropped some simple ones and it's not the nicest thing when you're on the other end of it.

"Something we pride ourselves on very much is our fielding, and I don't think we fielded as well as we could have. New Zealand really did show us how it was done, just the way that they went about it, but I can't sit here and worry about those things, otherwise I'd probably be bald."

Of less concern to Johnson and Australia was the bowling performance put in by Trent Boult, the left-armer, who was expected to do so much in the series. After recovering from back stress hot spots that afflicted him at the end of the tour of England earlier in the year, Boult looked short of rhythm and accuracy at the Gabba. Having prepared to face a more fluent Boult in Brisbane, Johnson was mindful of not relaxing against him here.

"I was surprised with the way he bowled, full stop," Johnson said. "We talked about him in our team meeting. He generally gets the ball nice and full and he has got good pace. I think in one- dayers you know you have got 10 overs and you can really go for it. He has probably been a bit underdone. He has come back from injury and he hasn't had a lot of cricket. That was good for us that he has played the way he has.

"From his point of view he wouldn't have liked that. There was pressure on their two opening bowlers really; they are the two spearheads that they rely on so much, [Tim] Southee and Boult. Hopefully we can put that pressure on them here if Southee plays as well. He wold have been disappointed. It was certainly a surprise to us that he didn't bowl the way he normally does so we are expecting him to bounce back and bowl well out here."