Australia hopeful of three-figure lead on tough Hagley Oval deck

New Zealand v Australia, 2nd Test, Scorecard

Josh Hazlewood's five-wicket haul headlined the action on day one of the Christchurch Test which saw pacers take advantage of the conditions to put the game in the balance.

If it was Hazlewood in the first innings, it was Matt Henry and debutant Ben Sears who made the ball talk and reduced Australia to four down by stumps to cut down the advantage the bowlers had given them earlier.

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"Josh [Hazlewood] bowled exceptionally well," Matt Henry said in the post-day press conference. "Watching him go about his work today was probably bit of a blueprint for how we wanted to bowl there as well."

"It was a matter of bowling accurately and creating pressure. He did that beautifully. Thankfully we did it too to get a few poles," Henry added.

"The key for us is the first session tomorrow."

Henry's views were mirrored by Hazlewood, who took his 12th five-wicket haul in Tests today. The tall seamer dismantled the Kiwis batting line-up with the key wickets of top and middle-order batters Tom Latham, No.1 ranked Test batter Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.

However, Hazlewood admitted that Australia would have liked to have lost fewer wickets on day one and hoped the batters would step up in the crucial first session on day two to build a good lead.

"We would have liked to be two or three-down at the end of today, but there's still seam movement," Hazlewood said in the press conference.

"So, if we could get a triple-figure lead, that would be unreal. If it flattens out, we'll push and push for as many as we can get but if the seam movement continues, I think the 100-lead is a good position."

The Aussie was unsure how the pitch would play out later in the Test match, and recalled a similar wicket from 2016 where it flattened out as the Test went on to the latter half.

"I thought in the first hour the wicket was quite slow, with not much bounce," he said.

"But once the sun baked it for that first hour, it quickened up a bit and that's when we saw a few nicks. There was that little nip there all day, a little bit of swing, so there's plenty there for the quicks."

"It probably gets flatter as the game goes on here, certainly last time we were here (in 2016) it was similar to that. But we saw New Zealand move it around a fair bit, even this afternoon so there potentially might be enough in it for the next few days as well."

Australia trail by 38 runs at the end of day one with Marnus Labuschagne and nightwatchman Nathan Lyon, who made a sizeable contribution last Test in a similar role, in the middle.