A face saving century by opener Simon Katich and a three wicket haul by opening bowler Stewart Clark put the first Test against New Zealand firmly in their favour at the end of the third day at the Gabba Stadium at Brisbane.

Continuing from his overnight score of 67, Katich shouldered the entire Australian batting responsibility and moved the score from a very vulnerable 131 for 6 to 268, leaving the neighbours a task of scoring 327 runs to win with ample time to spare. Katich made 131 runs in 245 minutes of batting and hit sixteen fours.

Clark had the wickets of opener Redmond and then followed with the scalps of Brendan McCullum and Grant Elliott to finish the day at 3 for 23 in twelve overs.

New Zealand finished the day at 143 for 6 still needing 184 runs with only four wickets at hand. For New Zealand only middle order batsman Ross Taylor came up with any resistance to make an unbeaten 67 with nine fours.