AUS v PAK, 3rd Test, Day 1 Review: Record breaking Warner and quaint Renshaw feast on Pakistan bowling attack

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David Warner of Australia
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David Warner of Australia celebrates his century during day one of the Third Test match. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Australia started 2017 on a trailblazing note as David Warner marked the beginning of the 3rd Test at the Sydney Cricket ground with a 95 ball 113 runs spectacle. The left-handed opener looked menacing and raced to his century in just 78 ball, completing it inside one session to become only the fifth batsman to score a hundred in the opening session of a Test.Australia easily managed 365 at stumps for the loss of only 3 wickets with only Usman Khawaja and skipper Steven Smith ending up as the unsuccessful ones.

It was a very bad toss to lose for Misbah ul Haq as the morning session turned out to be demoralising for the Pakistan bowlers. The tourists chose to enter the contest with only one change; bringing in right arm fast bowler Imran Khan in place of Rahat Ali. The move, sceptically backed by the head coach Mickey Arthur, was supposed to add variety to the bowling attack which was a one-dimensional attack featuring only left-handed fast bowlers. But, the move could have been of use on a different day in a different setting but definitely not on a day when a raging bull called David Warner was waiting with an intent to take down anything that came his way.

Imran, at the end of the day, gave runs at the fastest rate. Mohammad Amir also had a mediocre outing while Yasir Shah ended up with just 1 wicket at the cost of 132 runs to show. Wahab Riaz was the only bowler who had some worthy figure, snapping 2 for 63 runs.

Quite visibly, all the damage was done in the first session itself. Warner, who earlier had smashed 84 ball hundred at the same venue against West Indies, started off the New Year’s Test with a four in the first over and later topped it up with a couple of back to back boundaries off Imran Khan’s bowling.

In short time, the Australia pushed Pakistan on the back and raced to 50 runs mark in just 8.1 overs. The 100 runs stand between the players also came up in a similar fashion and by the end of the 21st over. Warner, at the time, was sitting comfortably at 80 while Renshaw was chilling at 19 enjoying his partner’s show.

Soon, loud cheers echoed in the stadium as the vice-captain jumped in the air to celebrate in his trademark style after reaching the milestone with a triple in the 26th over and joined the elite club of players of Australians Victor Trumper (1902), Charlie Macartney (1926), Don Bradman (1930) and Majid Khan (1976).

The post lunch session brought some relief as Riaz finally managed a breakthrough, getting the precious wicket of Warner who was able to add only 13 runs in the second session and nicked one behind to the wicket-keeper. Warner’s departure prompted the 20-year-old Renshaw to shift the gear and not let the scoring rate go down drastically. He was now playing to his own reputation.

But, while Renshaw looked fluent, Australia lost a couple key wickets as Khawaja, who came in at No. 3 and Smith, who came in at No. 4 failed to join the ball bashing and departed cheaply. Renshaw, who was batting at 90 when his skipper departed, cautiously moved ahead to complete his century in the company of Peter Handscomb. By the time the umpires called the end of the day, Renshaw had nonchalantly moved to 167* while Handscomb stood at 40* and had together put up 121 runs for the 4th wicket.

Brief Scores:

Australia: 365/3 in 88 overs (Matt Renshaw 167, David Warner 113; Wahab Riaz 2/63)

Watch: David Warner registers his first century of 2017 (Via Cricket Australia)

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