Lunch Australia 0 for 126 (Warner 100*, Renshaw 25*) v Pakistan
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David Warner reached his century off 78 balls © Cricket Australia/Getty Images
David Warner surged to a century before lunch for the first time in the history of Test matches in Australia, thoroughly bedraggling Pakistan in the process.
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.
Matt Renshaw provided the sturdy counterpoint at the other end as Warner joined Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Sir Donald Bradman and Majid Khan as the only other men to do the trick in the very first session of a Test. Majid was the most recent batsman to get there, making his century against New Zealand in Karachi in 1976-77.
After Steven 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 within two deliveries in the last over before lunch, from the bowling of Wahab Riaz, 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 has already made history in a match just two hours old.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo