Australian opener David Warner hit a sparkling 106 off 93 balls in the second ODI between South Africa and Australia in Bloemfontein, South Africa to power his team to a dominant first innings total of 392-8.
The southpaw leapfrogged Sachin Tendulkar to claim the record of the most international centuries by an opening batter, across all three formats of the game. Warner has hit 46 tons in 343 international matches so far, while Tendulkar has 45. The pugnacious batter reached the landmark in the 30th over and punched the air in his signature fashion. All of Tendulkar’s tons as opener came in ODIs, while Warner has 20 in ODIs, 25 in Tests, and one in T20Is.
After being put into bat by the Proteas, the visiting side were given a roaring start by Warner and Travis Head, who took the home bowlers to the cleaners. Head played the role of the aggressor, and ended the first powerplay on 61 off 29 while Warner had made his way to 39 off 32 at the end of the first powerplay. The batting team catapulted to 102 runs in the initial 10 overs, the fourth time they had done so in ODIs.
Earlier in 2023, Australia racked up 118 in the first powerplay in an ODI against India in Visakhapatnam, thanks to Head’s 51 not out off 30 and current skipper Mitchell Marsh’s unbeaten 66 off 36. They both made mincemeat of India’s total of 117, gunning down the target in 11 overs.
Head became the joint second-fastest Australian batter to score 2,000 ODI runs (2,009 runs over 53 innings) alongside Matthew Hayden. Only David Boon (52 innings) reached the landmark faster.
Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi’s twin blows in successive balls included Head, who departed for 64 (36), and Marsh for a golden duck, couldn’t halt the run flow for long. ‘Player of the Match’ in the last ODI, Marnus Labuschagne, had other plans. After hitting an unbeaten 80 off 93 as a concussion substitute in the curtain-raiser, Labuschagne continued from where he left. He stroked his way to a scintillating 124 off 99 deliveries, comprising 19 fours and a maximum, to boost his claims for a World Cup place.
Josh Inglis chipped in with a quickfire 50 off 37 balls, smashing seven boundaries and a six.
Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers for Temba Bavuma’s men as he finished with figures of 10-61-4 on a belter of a pitch.
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