David Warner powered to an 85-ball century in a 259-run opening stand with Mitch Marsh
Warner's Pakistan dominance continues with another ton
David Warner has smashed his fourth consecutive ODI ton against Pakistan as he and opening partner Mitch Marsh made the subcontinent nation pay for a sloppy start to their clash with Australia in Bengaluru.
After a slow start to the tournament with scores of 41, 13 and 11 in the first three games, Warner announced himself at this year's World Cup with a blazing 85-ball century against Pakistan on Friday.
Dropped on 10 by Usama Mir when he skied an attempted pull shot off Shaheen Shah Afridi to mid-on, Warner went on to belt six sixes as he brought up his hundred with a single to deep mid-on off Mohammed Nawaz in the 31st over.
Marsh, who turned 32 today, then brought up his own run-a-ball century the very next delivery with a powerful back foot drive to the cover boundary.
One of Warner's sixes he almost launched out of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium as his 98m slog sweep-scoop from Haris Rauf's second ball of the match rebounded off the advertising hoardings at the top of the venue's roof and almost hit fine leg on the head.
It's the opener's fourth straight century against Pakistan in the format following knocks of 107 at the previous World Cup in England, 179 in Adelaide in January 2017 and 130 four days earlier in Sydney.
The knock of 179 in Adelaide was when Warner and Travis Head broke the record for the highest Australian partnership for any wicket in one-day internationals (284), with his and Marsh's effort of 259 today making it to fourth on the list.
The veteran was rested from Australia's most recent bilateral 50-over series against Pakistan in March last year following a gruelling three Tests in the subcontinent nation.
Warner has been in red-hot form in the 50-over format since the end of the Ashes, passing 50 in six of his 11 innings, with this his second century after scoring 106 in the second ODI against South Africa last month.
Such has been Warner's form in the past month that his strike rate of 115.29 in 2023 is the highest of any year across his 13-year career, with this year also his most productive in clearing the rope with 24 sixes.
He was eventually out for 163 – his equal fifth highest score in ODIs – trying to clear the long on boundary once more, hitting 14 fours and nine sixes in his 124-ball knock.
"Sometimes you just match up well against certain teams," Warner said post-match when asked about his recent feats against Pakistan in ODIs.
"I don't look at anything of which team I have success against or not. It just so happens to be that I've scored four consecutive hundreds that I didn't know about until it came up in the change room.
"I probably look at someone like Shaheen Shah and think that he's had my measure a little bit.
"They're the guys that you try and watch as hard as you can – left-arm swinging at about 140kph, it can be a difficult task to try and take on.
"But look, I don't really have the answer, I just go out there and try my best against each opposition."
During today's knock he also went past Adam Gilchrist (1085) to become Australia's second highest run-scorer at 50-over World Cups behind Ricky Ponting (1743) with 1220 at an average of 61.
It was the 36-year-old's 21st one-day international hundred (second for Australia behind Ponting's 29), and he is now level with AB de Villiers as the men's game's 10th most prolific century-maker across all formats with 47.
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: Defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets
October 20: Defeated Pakistan by 62 runs
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
November 15: First semi-final, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 16: Second semi-final, Kolkata (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 19: Final, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points