Australia’s veteran opener David Warner hit a century on Tuesday against South Africa in his 100th Test to snap a near-three-year drought as he bounced back to his best at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
En route to three figures, the 36-year-old passed 8,000 Test runs — the eighth Australian to do so — after coming into the game under pressure after a lean run.
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It was his first Test century since January 2020 as he proved the doubters wrong with an aggressive 144-ball knock, hitting eight fours, on day two of the second Test.
He brought up his 25th century with a boundary, punching the air in celebration.
He had insisted before the match that “you’re never out of form".
“They’re not the words that I use and they’re definitely not used in our change rooms," he said. “It’s about (being) out of runs."
Warner’s ton ensured that Australia would take a 1st innings lead after wrapping up South Africa for 189 runs as the home team decided to bowl first after having won the toss at the MCG. Marco Janssen and Kyle Verreynne scored a half-century each for the South African cause at Melbourne as Cameroon Green came up big with the ball. The new Mumbai Indians recruit picked up 5 wickets, while Mitchell Starc bagged two scalps for himself. Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon picked up a wicket each to bowl the Proteas out.
Usman Khwaja and Marnus Labuschange were sent back to the pavilion early in the innings after scoring 1 and 14 runs respectively. Khwaja fell prey to SA seamer Kagiso Rabada, as Verreyne hung on to a catch to dismiss the left-handed batsman, while Labuschange was caught short between the wickets by Keshav Maharaj.
Steve Smith, edging close to his half-century accompanied Warner at the crease as the let-handed maverick opener crossed the three-digit figure.
Heading into the second game of the test series Australia had a 1-0 lead series lead after they managed to register a 6-wicket victory over the touring South Africans in the opening test of the three-match series at Gabba.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)