Brendon McCullum will be New Zealand’s best hope of pulling off a win © Getty Images
Australia hold all the cards against New Zealand going into Day Five of the first Test at The Gabba, Brisbane. With Nathan Lyon picking up the crucial wicket of Kane Williamson just before tea it looks highly likely that Australia will gain a 1-0 lead in the 3 match Trans-Tasman series 2015-16. New Zealand on the other hand will be ruing the fact that Williamson could not bat for another 1 more over for tea. Rain played spoil sport for the Australians as no further play happened until the close of play. New Zealand will hope that captain Brendon McCullum (4 not out) and Ross Taylor (20 not out) will keep away the likes of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Lyon from taking any more wickets. With predictions of thunder storm on Day Five, New Zealand will want their batsmen to survive the day and come out stronger going into the second Test at WACA. SCORECARD: Australia vs New Zealand 2015, 1st Test at Brisbane
From the way New Zealand batted in the first innings it will be an uphill task of them to survive, much less pull off a victory. However, in McCullum they have someone who can decide the fate of the match by himself. It will all depend on how McCullum decides to bat; he will need to either be aggressive and look for a win or stick in and block everything to draw. Going by his own form it will best for him to play his natural game and leave all the blocking to Taylor, BJ Watling, and the others to keep one end held up. The lower order in the first innings stood up against the might of Aussie and can again do the same if they have a dependable batsman on the other side (Williamson in the 1st innings). Taylor will hope for some magic to do his batting right, since he is in a poor run of form so far. The stats seem to suggest that New Zealand might pull a rabbit out of the hat. This is because since 2014 New Zealand have the best average for runs put by the last five batsman in Test matches:
| Team | Highest | Ave | 100 |
| New Zealand | 365* | 38.07 | 6 |
| England | 198 | 28.25 | 5 |
| Australia | 163 | 27.96 | 5 |
| South Africa | 149 | 26.62 | 1 |
| Sri Lanka | 179 | 25.44 | 10 |
| Pakistan | 139 | 24.35 | 4 |
| India | 120 | 23.02 | 3 |
| West Indies | 105 | 20.7 | 1 |
| Zimbabwe | 147 | 20.47 | 2 |
| Bangladesh | 82 | 20.08 | 0 |
If New Zealand does decide to go for a win chasing 504, it will be a most exciting brand of cricket. On the other hand, it could be a ridiculed decision given the circumstances. McCullum has achieved the seemingly impossible in the past, but if he manages to do it this time, it will be a truly remarkable feat. With thunder storms hover over Brisbane Day Five will make for a either an illustrious day of cricket or be a damper for cricket fans all around. ALSO READ: Kane Williamson: Reason for New Zealand’s resurgence in Tests
(Vishal Mehra is a reporter at CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime as refreshment and plays cricket once a white moon. His twitter handle is @vishal_oxyjinn)