New Zealand 179 and 111 for 3 (Ravindra 56*, Mitchell 12*) need 258 more runs to beat Australia 383 and 164 (Lyon 41, Phillips 5-45, Henry 3-36)
Ravindra did endure several anxious moments, including an lbw appeal from Lyon that Australia unsuccessfully reviewed, but made it through to give New Zealand hope of conjuring a remarkable victory. Given the difficult situation, Mitchell curtailed his innate aggressiveness to finish 12 not out from 63 balls.
New Zealand will need to rewrite the record books if they are to take the lead in this series, with the highest ever run chase at Basin Reserve being 277 for 3 by Pakistan in 2003.
But New Zealand’s chase started poorly when opener Tom Latham gifted Lyon a wicket when he nicked off a short and wide delivery on the stroke of tea. Lyon, who entered the attack in the sixth over, had a huge caught behind appeal turned down on Williamson’s first delivery and Australia unsuccessfully reviewed.
The riveting battle continued after the interval with Williamson, who made three hundreds in four innings against South Africa, determined to make amends after his horrendous run out for a duck in New Zealand’s first innings.
After a rare double failure, Williamson was visibly annoyed with himself as his modest career mark against Australia fell to 37.26 compared to 55.25 overall.
Lyon’s performance had Australia remaining confident despite a collapse in the middle session that loosened their stranglehold.
As they seek a rare Test victory over Australia, New Zealand have seemingly been overawed at times in the series-opener. But Phillips has been a standout after he top-scored for New Zealand with a defiant 71 off 70 in their disappointing first innings of 179.
He has also stood up with the ball after frontline spinner Mitchell Santner was overlooked for this match. Having had Usman Khawaja stumped in the first session, Phillips provided New Zealand with a much needed spark shortly after lunch with the wickets of Head and in-form Mitchell Marsh on consecutive deliveries.
Head, who had made just one run in his last three innings, raced to 29 off 36 balls before holing out to long-off. Marsh was dismissed for a golden duck after being caught at short-leg with Phillips equalling his career best of four wickets in an innings.
Phillips was denied a sixth when Cummins was dropped twice, but Matt Henry claimed the last two wickets – finishing with eight for the match – to complete New Zealand’s fightback.
Having never taken a five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, Phillips became the first New Zealand spinner to reach the feat at Basin Reserve since 2006 when Daniel Vettori, who is now part of Australia’s coaching staff, claimed 7 for 130 against Sri Lanka.
A New Zealand rally looked unlikely when Lyon, the nightwatcher, dominated the first 30 minutes of play. Having scored the most runs in Test history without a half-century, with a highest score of 47, Lyon fell short after making a breezy 41 off 46 balls in the top score of the innings.
Lyon’s milestone bid ended after whipping Henry to a leaping Young at midwicket, but he was back in the thick of the action later in the day’s play.
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth