Australia vs Pakistan, Third Test, Day 1- Stats: David Warner and Matt Renshaw punish Pakistan
After winning the three-match Test series 2-0 and winning the toss in the inconsequential tie, Australia found themselves in the driver’s seat against Pakistan at the end of day 1 of the third Test at Sydney.
Opening batsman David Warner got his team off to a great start as he went on a rampage against the Pakistani bowlers. He kept sending the ball to the boundary on a regular basis and reached his fifty off just 42 balls. Matt Renshaw backed Warner well and allowed him to go for the kill. In the last over before lunch, Warner became the fifth batsman to reach his century in the first session of a Test.
Soon after the lunch break, Wahab Riaz had Warner caught behind by Sarfaraz Ahmed for 113 against the run of play. Wahab added one more to his tally when he had Usman Khawaja caught behind for 13. Renshaw reached his fifty and with the company of skipper Steve Smith, he started to take on the bowlers. Smith departed for 24 and that didn’t stop Renshaw from attacking the bowlers.
Renshaw reached his maiden Test ton when he took a single off Yasir Shah. He continued to punish the Pakistanis and reached his 150 few overs later. At the end of the day’s play, Australia were 365-3 with Renshaw and Peter Handscomb batting on 167 and 40 respectively.
Also read: David Warner: A man proving his detractors wrong in Test cricket
Here are some of the important numbers from the day’s play:
1- This is Matt Renshaw’s maiden Test hundred.
2- Matt Renshaw is the second youngest batsman after Ravi Shastri to score a Test 100 against Pakistan.
3- Matt Renshaw (20 years, 281 days) is the third youngest Australian opener after Archie Jackson and Phil Hughes to score a century.
3- This is David Warner’s third consecutive Test hundred at Sydney. Only Wally Hammond has more consecutive Test tons (4) at Sydney.
4- Renshaw is also the fourth youngest opener to score a Test 150. He is also the fifth youngest Aussie to do so.
5- This is the fifth time Yasir Shah has dismissed Steve Smith. Only Stuart Broad has dismissed the Aussie skipper more with 6 dismissals.
5- David Warner becomes the fifth batsman to score a 100 in the first session of a Test. The last batsman to do this was Majid Khan in 1976 and the last Australian to achieve this was Sir Don Bradman in 1930.
6- David Warner has scored six Test centuries with a strike-rate of over 100, the same as Virender Sehwag. Only Adam Gilchrist has more Test hundreds (7) at over a strike-rate of 100.
78- David Warner scored his century off just 78 balls, the fastest at the SCG.
4690- Only Don Bradman (6790) and Gavaskar (4947) have scored more runs in their first 50 Tests than Steven Smith.