Warner, Renshaw take Australia to 224-2 at tea in Sydney

David Warner’s quick-fire hundred and an unbeaten half-century by Matt Renshaw lifted Australia to 224-2 at tea on the first day of the third Test against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Australia added 98 runs in the session for the loss of two wickets as it set after a commanding first innings total and a series clean sweep after winning the toss and batting.

At the interval Renshaw was on 83 not out, his highest test score, and Steve Smith was unbeaten on 12.

Warner’s historic innings of 113 off 95 balls, which included scoring a century before lunch, was finally ended by Wahab Riaz, who had the left-hander caught behind by Sarfraz Ahmed.

Riaz claimed both wickets to fall in the middle session, having Usman Khawaja (13) also caught behind by Sarfraz.

Earlier, Warner became the first player to score a hundred in the opening session of a test in Australia.

It was just the fifth time in Test history a century has been scored in the first session of a match, after Warner’s fellow Australians Victor Trumper (1902 in Manchester), Charlie Macartney (1926 in Leeds) and Don Bradman (1930 in Leeds) as well as Pakistan’s Majid Khan (1976 in Karachi).

Warner plundered 17 boundaries to set the tone and forced Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq on to the defensive inside the first few overs to try to stem the flow of runs.

The left-hander completed his remarkable century off 78 balls, with a cut shot for three on the second ball of the final over before lunch. The diminutive opener removed his helmet and did his trademark leap to celebrate his 18th test century, and third in Sydney, in front of an appreciative crowd at his home ground.

Both teams made two changes from the second test last week at Melbourne, with allrounder Hilton Cartwright selected for his test debut at the expense of batsman Nic Maddinson at No.6, while left-arm orthodox spinner Steve O’Keefe replaced paceman Jackson Bird.

Seamer Imran Khan came into the Pakistan team for Sohail Khan, with Sharjeel Khan replacing opener Sami Aslam.