Australia's David Warner joins an elite band with century before lunch

THE words of wheelchair-bound Australian Paralympian Kurt Fearnley said it all.
David Warner took just 78 balls to record his century against Pakistan in Sydney.David Warner took just 78 balls to record his century against Pakistan in Sydney.
David Warner took just 78 balls to record his century against Pakistan in Sydney.

“Even I’d give that a standing ovation,” he tweeted.

“Great knock David Warner! #AUSvPAK”

Warner had just become the fifth man to score a hundred before lunch on the opening day of a Test match.

He went on to make 113 as Australia reached 365-3 in the third and final game in Sydney, Middlesbrough-born Matt Renshaw top-scoring with an unbeaten 167, and new Yorkshire signing Peter Handscomb contributing an undefeated 40.

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Warner completed his century in the final over before lunch from 78 balls with 17 fours, walking off with exactly 100 to his name.

He was the first man to score a hundred before lunch on the opening day of a Test match since Pakistan’s Majid Khan, who made 108 in the first session against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976.

After Victor Trumper first performed the feat in 1902, the Australian scoring 103 in the opening session against England at Old Trafford, the next two instances took place at Headingley.

In 1926, fellow Australian Charles Macartney scored 112 in the first session of the Leeds Ashes Test, and the great Don Bradman made 105 before lunch in the corresponding fixture four years later.

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Whereas Trumper fell for 104, Majid for 112, Warner for 113 and Macartney for 151, Bradman’s achievement was merely an hors d’oeuvre.

By the time he was caught behind on the second day off Maurice Tate, ‘The Don’ had 334 in the bank, then the highest individual score in Test cricket.

Four years later, Bradman scored 304 in the Headingley Ashes Test to continue a love affair with a ground at which he averaged 192.

Given that batting records these days are dropping like flies, with one-day cricket having had a knock-on effect on quick scoring, it is perhaps surprising that Warner is just the fifth man to achieve the feat in Tests.

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Did Virender Sehwag really never hit a hundred before lunch in a Test match, or Chris Gayle, or Matthew Hayden, or Sanath Jayasuriya?

Clearly not, which is also surprising when you consider weak opponents such as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

In the old days, the pace of scoring was much slower, of course, and the opening session of a Test match traditionally a leisurely affair.

These days, the pace of scoring is much quicker but over-rates are atrocious; just 27 overs, for example, were bowled in the opening session yesterday at the SCG.

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However, that is still time enough for someone like Warner, who scored an even faster Test century in terms of balls faced (69) against India at Perth in 2012, albeit not in the opening session of the match.

Much of what the left-hander does is classless and conceited; witness Warner’s typically self-congratulatory reaction to reaching three-figures yesterday, which was nauseatingly vainglorious.

But at least he was respectful of the history he had achieved, saying: “It’s an honour and privilege to be among the greats of the game.”

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