Debutant pace bowler James Pattinson ripped through New Zealand's top order in a brilliant morning spell to fire Australia to an emphatic nine-wicket victory with more than a day to spare in the first Test Sunday. Australia, which made 427 in its opening innings in response to New Zealand's 295, needed just 19 runs in its second knock to claim victory after dismissing the tourists for 150 less than an hour after lunch. It still managed to lose under-fire opener Phil Hughes for seven before David Warner (12 not out) rattled off the winning runs but the day belonged to Man of the Match Pattinson, who finished with 5-27. The host took a 1-0 lead in the series with the second and final match in Hobart starting on Dec. 9 and kept intact Australia's unbeaten run in Tests at the Gabba, which stretches back to 1988. “James Pattinson was outstanding,” said Australia's skipper Michael Clarke, whose 139 in the second innings helped tip the balance of what had been a tight contest in his team's favor. Pattinson had already removed opener Brendon McCullum late Saturday to leave New Zealand to resume on 10-1 but no-one was prepared for the fireworks he unleashed in his opening over of the morning. The 21-year-old removed the other opener Martin Guptill for 12 with his second ball and his fourth and fifth accounted for Kane Williamson and Black Caps' skipper Ross Taylor, both for ducks, to leave Pattinson on a hat-trick and New Zealand reeling on 17-4. Angling to become just the fourth player to take a hat trick on their Test debut, the pace of Pattinson's sixth delivery beat batsman Jesse Ryder but the ball missed the off-stump. Four overs after that devastating three-wicket maiden, Pattinson grabbed his “five-for” with the wicket of nightwatchman Doug Bracewell for two to reduce the tourists to 28 for five. All five of Pattinson's victims were caught behind or at close range and, despite the pace, swing and bounce he produced, the New Zealanders will be disappointed with some sloppy batting. They were also left to rue a string of dropped catches, particularly the two lives they gave Clarke Saturday, after coming into the match confident they could win a first Test on Australian soil for 26 years.
