Friendly foes resume mismatched battle in Perth

As spirited rivals who have enjoyed the long and short of their mismatched (at least physically) battles over recent years, David Warner and Shaheen Shah Afridi loomed as key figures on day one of the Test campaign between Australia and Pakistan.

When the teams previously met in Pakistan early last year, an enduring image of that contest was left-arm quick Shaheen towering over the diminutive Australia opener before the pair later posed for smiling photos for their respective social media followers.

But with Pakistan fielding a largely untried bowling attack in the opening NRMA Insurance Test that started in Perth today, Warner knew his friendly foe loomed as the key element of their bowling strategy and duly set about grabbing the upper hand if not a height advantage.

As the end-of-day scoreboard attests, the veteran achieved that by scoring 164 of Australia's impressive 5-346 at stumps while Shaheen struggled to make an impact in a decisive first session before ending the day with 1-75 from his 19 overs.

The pair also squared off in a number of face-to-face confrontations that were good natured but underscored the importance of both players to their respective teams.

In the day's early overs, Warner played and missed at a delivery from the towering quick that left him off the pitch and offered a genuine round of applause as if to acknowledge he had been done cold by Shaheen's bowling skill.

But the adulation wasn't reciprocated when Warner audaciously lifted Shaheen over the fine leg boundary for a stunning six, with the opener later admitting he had misjudged the length of the ball that – on reflection – was pitched a little too full for his innovative ramp shot.

The ball after that small victory saw Warner flash wildly outside off stump without making contact, leading Shaheen to stand almost toe-to-toe with his pint-sized opponent albeit in silent triumph.

And later in the day, as drinks were being brought on to the field, they crossed paths as if two vehicles at a rural intersection sans signage with neither sure who should give way.

As it turned out, the giant bowler allowed his still unbeaten rival that honour with silence again passing between them.

"He bowled a lot in the World Cup, so to try and apply pressure on their senior bowlers in the first Test match, you have to try and do that," Warner said at day's end having completed his 26th Test century as the only Australia batter to reach 50.

"He didn't go away (from the bat) as much I thought, he ended up trying to go back into us and wobble seam.

"So I was taken aback by that, and I was able to apply a bit more pressure and try and hit him a little bit squarer.

"And then I'd wait for the one that was a little bit inside and wait for that short ball I know he has up his sleeve.

"But the chit-chat was just normal stuff, he's not trying to get under my skin or anything.

"It's just normal banter."

After Australia skipper Pat Cummins chose to bat upon winning the toss, despite suggestions the Perth pitch might suit his four-pronged seam attack plus spinner Nathan Lyon, Warner admits the plan was to take the game to Pakistan's inexperienced line-up.

Apart from Shaheen, they fielded two Test debutants (seamers Aamir Jamal, Khurram Shahzad) as well as Faheem Ashraf playing just his 17th Test and off-spinning all-rounder Salman Ali Agha who has nine wickets from as many appearances.

"I thought we were able to put a bit of pressure on them, especially two debutants," Warner said of the Pakistan bowlers who struggled to find their lengths in the opening session but improved as the day progressed.

"Sometimes opposition teams come to Australia and they pitch one or two up and get driven back down the ground, then they get off that length.

"Where if you look at our bowlers, they try and consistently hit that length and they want you to hit straight past them.

"I don’t think I scored one run down the ground today, and that's when you know you've got them off their length.

"That's what I tried to do from ball one, drop that back leg if I got any width or pull if I can, and then try to get them to bowl to my scoring zones.

"I just don't think they bowled enough balls in the right area to make us play."

Warner claimed he was impressed with Pakistan's two debutant bowlers, notably Shahzad who captured his maiden Test wicket when he had Steve Smith caught behind and finished with 1-62 from his 17 overs.

But Aamir, who was eventually rewarded for his efforts with the scalp of Warner in the day's final hour after a change in plans led Pakistan to adopt a short-ball ploy against him, admitted he and his fellow quicks hadn't quite stuck to the blueprint in the opening session.

"We were thinking about trying to bowl a full length to him, because they are good enough to play square of the wicket," Aamir said of the strategy to Warner which failed to materialise.

"So that's what we were planning early on to bowl very full to them but we didn’t succeed in our plan, and after that we came back and planned to bowl them properly short balls to get them out.

"It's always been challenging bowling to such a quality opponent, and I was just backing myself.

"Definitely David Warner is a very good player in all three formats, so this was what we were planning against him, trying to bowl fuller.

"And if we couldn't get him out bowling fuller, there was a plan B to get him out as well."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: December 14-18, Perth Stadium (1.20pm AEDT)

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (10.30am AEDT)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: (first Test only) Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Lance Morris, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi