Warner Smashes Record Century As Australia Dominate

Warner Smashes Record Century As Australia Dominate

David Warner needed just 69 balls to score a century against India at the W.A.C.A

©REUTERS / Action Images

India 161 (Kohli 44, Hilfenhaus 4-43, Siddle 3-42) v
Australia 149-0 (Warner 104no)
Third Test, Perth, day one
Scorecard

David Warner smashed a 69-ball hundred - the equal fourth quickest of all time in Test cricket - as Australia closed day one of the third Test against India on 149 without loss having earlier dismissed the tourists for 161.

Warner hit 13 fours and three sixes on the way to a spell-binding second Test century in just his fifth match after Australia's quick bowlers had again put them in the ascendency.

Ben Hilfenhaus (four for 43), Peter Siddle (three for 42), Mitchell Starc (two for 39) and Ryan Harris (one for 33) justified the selection of an all-pace attack and Michael Clarke's decision to bowl first after winning the toss.

Virat Kohli top scored with 44 and VVS Laxman made 31 as India kept faith with their struggling batting line-up and their only change to the line-up came with Ranganath Vinay Kumar being handed a Test debut as Ravi Ashwin was dropped - India also going with an all-pace bowling line-up.

After losing the toss, things showed no sign of improvement for India as they quickly found themselves at 59 for three as Virender Sehwag (0), Rahul Dravid (9) and Sachin Tendulkar (15) fell cheaply to Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Harris respectively.

Gautam Gambhir made 31 in 82 balls before he was caught behind off Hilfenhaus, whose control of swing troubled the batsmen throughout their innings.

Kohli and Laxman then added 68 for the fifth wicket as India rallied but their good work was undone as the last six wickets fell for 30 runs.

Kohli was caught by Warner off Siddle, Laxman fell to the same bowler as Clarke held the catch and Mahendra Singh Dhoni was caught by Ponting off Hilfenhaus for 12 to expose what is, in the absence of Ashwin, a lengthy tail.

There was little surprise, therefore, when Vinay Kumar (5), Zaheer Khan (2) and Ishant Sharma (3) were blown away by Starc and Hilfenhaus and India had been bowled out in 60.2 overs.

And there was to be no respite in the field as Warner tore into the bowling and Ed Cowan proved to be no slouch at the other end, making a fluent 40 in 58 balls including six fours.

Warner, however, was the star attraction, monstering blows over long on, through the covers and through midwicket as he mercilessly punished anything slightly off line or length delivered by India.

He needed just three scoring shots to move through the 90s. A boundary four was followed by another crisp shot through the covers that would have been four had an unlucky bird not got in the way and then he powered a huge six down the ground to cap a truly memorable performance.

His effort left him behind only Sir Viv Richards (56 balls), Adam Gilchrist (57) and John Gregory (67) and level with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (69).

And his effort was the third century in 70 balls or less - after Gilchrist's and Chris Gayle's effort in 2010 - at the WACA.

India's day went from bad to worse when Ed Cowan gloved Sharma to Dhoni behind the stumps but a muted appeal was turned down and with no recourse to the Decision Review System available, he lived to fight again on day two.

Australia lead the four-match series 2-0 after convincing wins in Melbourne and Sydney.

© Cricket World 2012