Australia opening batter David Warner has surpassed former skipper Michael Clarke to become Australia’s fifth-highest all-time run-scorer in Test cricket. Warner scored a magnificent century against Pakistan on Day 1 of the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Australia vs Pakistan, 1st Test Day 1: Highlights
Warner kicked-off his farewell Test series in style, smashing 164 runs off 211 balls against Pakistan in the first innings in Perth. He hit 16 boundaries and four sixes in that innings to bring up his 49th international hundred and his 26th in Test cricket.
Warner has now amassed 8651 runs in 110 Test matches for Australia, averaging 45.05 while hitting 26 hundreds and 36 half-centuries. He is only behind Ricky Ponting (13,378 runs), Allan Border (11,174 runs), Steve Waugh (10,927 runs), Steve Smith (9351 runs) in the list of top-scoring Test batters for Australia.
Interestingly, Warner is the third-highest run-scorer for Australia across all formats of the game, and is just 20 runs short of Steve Waugh’s tally. Warner could overtake the legendary Australia skipper’s tally of 18,496 international runs in this match itself.
In fact, Warner is just one century short of becoming just the second Australian after Ponting to hit 50 international hundreds, and the ninth overall. If he gets to that landmark, he would join Sachin Tendulkar (100), Virat Kohli (80), Ponting (71), Kumar Sangakkara (63), Jacques Kallis (62), Hashim Amla (55), Mahela Jayawardene (54) and Brian Lara (53) in this elite list.
Thanks to Warner’s blistering knock, Australia ended Day 1 in a commanding position, posting 346 for 5 on the scoreboard. Facing flak over his recent performances, Warner brought up his first Test century in over a year.
Ahead of the Test series, former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson had criticised Warner and questioned why he was getting a farewell Test series despite poor recent performances.
Warner is all set to retire from Test cricket at the end of the series at his home ground in Sydney. The final match of the series will start on January 3 next year.
