Marcus North answered the critics who questioned his place in the Australian side.

North hit a fourth Test century on day two of the first Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

North came into the two-match series under fire after a lean spell against the West Indies and Pakistan, but justified the faith shown in him by the Australian selectors and captain Ricky Ponting as Australia took control.

Australia in total command

Resuming on 52 at the start of the day at the Basin Reserve, the left-hander was unbeaten on 112 when Ponting declared at 459 for five midway through the middle session.

The home side reached 108 for four by stumps, still 351 runs in arrears.

"Without a doubt the pressure was there," North admitted. "When you haven't made a lot of runs in the last couple of months and there's a lot of speculation about your position it's not a great feeling.

"But again you've got to use that experience and use that to motivate and really focus on the job in hand."

North credited Ponting and batting coach Justin Langer for helping him make the turnaround.

"Coming to New Zealand with no form under my belt whatsoever and spending three days working with Ricky and Justin really gave me the boost I needed and confirmed a few things to me and really got me in a good mindset," he said.

"Without a doubt getting in that mindset has certainly contributed to me getting a hundred in this first Test. It was nice to get those three figures."

North and Michael Clarke, who made his highest Test score of 168, were rarely troubled by New Zealand's bowlers.

Clarke looked poised for a first double hundred until Daniel Vettori got one past him as he charged down the wicket and Brendon McCullum whipped the bails off. It was the only Australian wicket to fall on day two.

"I think at times, batting with Clarke, we felt we were getting tested," North added. "They were hitting a back of a length pretty consistently at times and they had some good spells.

"There were some tough periods but it was just nice that Pup (Clarke) and I stuck together and helped each other through it."

Australia's bowlers certainly had no trouble taking wickets once Ponting let them loose.

Doug Bollinger needed just five balls in the opening over to trap BJ Watling lbw for a duck and the home side were reduced to 43 for four before Vettori (42 not out) and Martin Guptill (19 no) began the fightback.

Ross Taylor, who made 21, was baffled by the now familiar top order collapse.

"I can't put my finger on what went wrong. We just lost too many wickets at crucial times. Being 40 for four, the wicket's not that bad," he said.

"You've got to give credit to Australia the way (Ryan) Harris and Bollinger bowled at the start, not only did they pick up wickets but they bowled economically as well.

"They bowled well on what's quite a flat deck but extracted bounce and sideways movement. But the way that Dan and Martin started showing some fight towards the end there gives us a bit of hope."