Tea Australia 2 for 224 (Renshaw 83*, Smith 12*, Wahab 2-42) v Pakistan
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
00:51
Farrell: Renshaw showed he’s a good foil for Warner
David Warner surged to a century before lunch for the first time in the history of Test matches in Australia, leaving Matt Renshaw and the rest of the top order to ride merrily in the slipstream of an innings that flummoxed Pakistan.
Having played a major role in Australia’s win in Melbourne by scoring a rapid century, Warner doubled down with another intimidatory batting effort against bowling that mixed the presentable with the ordinary on a blameless SCG pitch for the New Year’s Test.
Renshaw provided the sturdy counterpoint at the other end as Warner joined Victor Trumper, Charlie McCartney, Sir Donald Bradman and Majid Khan as the only other men to do the trick in a Test. Majid was the most recent batsman to get there, making his century against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976-77.
While Warner was unable to go on for long after the interval, Renshaw wedged himself into the wicket with the sort of innings the selectors had chosen him for, and the captain Steven Smith was able to to get comfortable after Usman Khawaja’s brief stay. Wahab Riaz bowled swiftly and well for Pakistan and deserved his two wickets.
After Smith won the toss for Australia and announced two changes to the Melbourne team, Steve O’Keefe and the debutant Hilton Cartwright, Warner rocketed away with a volley of boundaries in the first two overs of the match, the second of which was bowled by one of Pakistan’s inclusions, Imran Khan.
From there it seemed only a matter of Warner keeping his wicket intact and getting enough of the strike, two tasks he performed without too much trouble as barely a ball beat the bat.
In the end Warner was able to go from 95 to 100 with a double and a three from the bowling of Wahab, the first a pull shot and the second a punch behind square on the off side that should only have been worth two but became the pivotal third via a misfield. Warner’s celebration was typically ebullient; he had already made history in a match just two hours old.
It was to be Wahab who sent Warner back to the dressing room, via an SCG standing ovation, when he coaxed an indeterminate edge when trying to run the ball down through the gully region. Khawaja’s edge arrived a few overs later from a more aggressive attempt to score, and it was Renshaw who got the balance right.
His innings contrasted sharply with Warner’s but was adroitly timed given the fact that Shaun Marsh is back to fitness and was in some contention for Sydney. Renshaw should now consider himself secure in his place on the plane to India next month, despite his inexperience.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo