Australia coast to victory

Brisbane: Australian bowlers feasted on a New Zealand tail to win the first Test at the Gabba by 149 runs here on Sunday.

Chasing a victory target of 327 runs, New Zealand began on a devastating note on Saturday. They crumbled against the seam and pace of the Australian attack to be reduced to 143 for six by the end of third day's play. And the hosts completed the formalities yesterday packing them off for 177 runs.

The visitors, facing a 184 run deficit, continued with their brittle display and it took Australia just 48 minutes to wipe off the remaining four wickets for 34 runs.

The bleak New Zealand hopes rested on their overnight batsman Ross Taylor (75) and captain Daniel Vettori but both fell to Mitchell Johnson (5-39) after putting up 18 runs.

While Vettori was caught at point by Andrew Symonds, Taylor followed when he was caught behind by Brad Haddin, adding only 8 runs to his overnight total.

Tim Southee provided some entertainment when he hit two sixes straight down the ground off Stuart Clark but that was all.

New Zealand's innings came to a swift end when Chris Martin's bails were castled off by Johnson who ended with match figures of 9 for 69, to win the Man-of-the-Match award.

It was a huge effort by Australia after they were shot down for 214 in their first innings and were reduced to six for 115 in the second innings before Katich scored a fighting century to carry his bat through the innings.

A disappointed New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was grappling with his team's lack of depth in batting in the post-match press conference.

"It's been a problem well before I was captain," he said.

"A lot of guys went through it and tried to find ways of redeeming it. I still look at the guys and think they are extremely talented, but we have to turn that talent into consistent performances and unfortunately, we're just not getting that.

"With the batting there's Martin Crowe, who average 45 with 17 Test hundreds, and then there's a pretty big gap," Dettori added.

The final match of the two-Test series begins on Friday at the Adelaide Oval.