Key events
66th over: Australia 281-3 (Warner 144, Head 27) Agha Salman, off spin, three singles. You have all of the information you need.
65th over: Australia 278-3 (Warner 142, Head 26) Faheem Ashraf returns, keeping Shaheen to a short spell. Another boundary for Head, this ball almost off the pitch across the left-hander but he goes after it nonetheless and belts it through cover.
64th over: Australia 271-3 (Warner 141, Head 20) Double miss? Warner doesn’t hit that. Shuffles at Agha Salman, looks for a moment like he edges the ball at the keeper but that was all turn and bounce. Uncharacteristic It hits Sarfaraz on the left shoulder, so there’s a stumping missed, and ricochets to slip, who is a moment too slow to realise that Warner is still out of his ground, and so rushes the throw as Warner gets back. The run out misses too. They run a bye before Head gets low and sweeps four runs fine.
63rd over: Australia 266-3 (Warner 141, Head 16) Warner again off the ground to play pace to leg. Head belts a single to short cover. Runs from Shaheen keep coming.
62nd over: Australia 263-3 (Warner 139, Head 15) Again, Head doesn’t score from the off-spinner after Warner turns over the strike, taking his career runs tally past Matthew Hayden’s 8625. For Australia, that leaves Clarke, Smith, Waugh, Border and Ponting ahead of him.
61st over: Australia 262-3 (Warner 138, Head 15) Warner has made a lot of small hundreds. This one is already into his top ten. Tucks another run away, jumping. Shaheen Afridi is back on, Pakistan desperate for a wicket. Instead Travis Head genuflects and slashes a cover cut more than a cover drive to width, running two.
60th over: Australia 258-3 (Warner 137, Head 12) It felt like that was on the way! Not the worst ball from Agha Salman, Warner isn’t right to the pitch, but the surface isn’t doing anything and Warner gets close enough. Dropping to one knee lets him lunge forward at the ball, and he follows through with a huge cross-batted hit over long on. Not exactly a slog sweep, so straight is it struck, but with something of that early movement. High over long on for six.
59th over: Australia 252-3 (Warner 131, Head 12) Gifts for Head, almost off the pitch such was the width from Shahzad. Head launches a cut shot over forward point for four. Then plays more stylishly to a better ball, dipping at the knees to time a powerful back-cut from closer to his body, same result. Twelve runs, three scoring shots, the Head method.
58th over: Australia 243-3 (Warner 130, Head 4) Warner takes a single from the off-spinner first ball, then to the surprise of all present, Head does not try to murder each subsequent delivery. He plays at them all, but only pushing rather than whacking. Five dots.
57th over: Australia 242-3 (Warner 129, Head 4) A warm ovation for Travis Head, the man of Australian cricket’s moment along with the absent Glenn Maxwell, and Head treats his supporters by getting down on one knee to slam a cover drive for four. Four from two ball. Strike rate: 200.
WICKET! Smith c Sarfaraz b Shahzad, Australia 238-3
One out of nowhere! Khurram Shahzad has bowled well to Smith, and now gets his reward. Two balls back of a length angle in, then the bowler goes a touch wider and Smith gets sucked in. Prods at the ball, edges for the keeper to catch it falling away to his right. Smith is furious. Shouts at himself as he leaves the field for playing at that. Nice delivery, slight away movement off the surface.
56th over: Australia 238-2 (Warner 129, Smith 31) Slog sweep comes out for Warner, battering Agha Salman for four.
55th over: Australia 230-2 (Warner 123, Smith 29) Shahzad continues to Smith, who does play one aggressive shot with a cut to backward point but it’s well fielded with a dive to prevent any run. Smith sees out the rest of the over.
54th over: Australia 230-2 (Warner 123, Smith 29) Thumped by Warner. Down the pitch to Agha Salman, hits him straight and it just reaches the rope on the full – six runs. Adds a single to move to 123, easy as ABC.
53rd over: Australia 222-2 (Warner 116, Smith 28) An error drawn by Shahzad! Gets the inside edge of Smith’s bat, nearly gets his wicket, but the deflection streaks past leg stump for four.
52nd over: Australia 217-2 (Warner 115, Smith 24) Warner chops the spinner Agha Salman away for a couple. Then some singles. How many can he make today? Bat through to stumps and go huge?
51st over: Australia 212-2 (Warner 111, Smith 23) We are indeed back. Khurram Shahzad with a big smile on his face at the top of his mark. Pakistan’s players gathered in a circle on the boundary edge before the session in a way that suggested some intensity. They haven’t given up. But it’s probably hard slog ahead.
Smith leaves the first ball, then rehearses a forward defence. Reaches for a wider ball to steer a couple of runs behind point. Pulls the bat inside the line of another after stepping across.
Tea – Australia 210-2 (Warner 111, Smith 21)
There it was in that session – the Warner-Pakistan nexus keeps delivering tons, with one that looked inevitable for most of today. Australia entirely on top. Smith going nicely. Not much happening for Pakistan with he ball, and their catching has been poor. Khawaja nicked off for 41 and Labuschagne was lbw for 16, the only two to fall. Back soon.
50th over: Australia 210-2 (Warner 111, Smith 21) End of the 50th over, for what would have been a decent one-day score in 1987, and that’s the end of the session with a single from Agha Salman.
49th over: Australia 209-2 (Warner 111, Smith 20) Even Shaheen is being worked around for singles now, four of them in the over.
Dropped!
48th over: Australia 205-2 (Warner 109, Smith 18) That’s dreadful again from Pakistan. Warner skips down and drop-kicks the spinner over mid on. Just over mid on, who is set quite deep. For a minute it looks as though Ashraf is going to take it easily, but he misjudged the height with his hands above his head. Through his fingers, away for four. Inevitably, Warner takes a single next ball to the same fielder, all along the carpet.
47th over: Australia 200-2 (Warner 104, Smith 18) In desperation, Shan Masood goes back to Shaheen, already in his 14th over. That’s almost a third of Pakistan’s overs bowled by him. Smith plays at all six balls and doesn’t score.
46th over: Australia 200-2 (Warner 104, Smith 18) Agha Salman rushes through another over of spin. We’ve just got past the halfway mark in terms of overs, and tea is 20 minutes away. That’s with only two wickets, one six, and a couple of reviews.
45th over: Australia 198-2 (Warner 103, Smith 17) Time for extras to come to the party. Six runs off Jamal’s over, consisting of one leg bye and five wides over the keeper’s head.
44th over: Australia 192-2 (Warner 103, Smith 17) Pakistan have almost given up. Agha Salman on to bowl some more part-time off spin.
Century! David Warner 102 from 125 balls
43rd over: Australia 190-2 (Warner 102, Smith 16) From Ric Finlay’s stats on ABC radio: six singles in Warner’s first 50 runs, 18 singles since. Smith is on strike here though, and punishes width with a powerful cover drive from Jamal. Cocks his wrists and smashes through the line. Picks off one more run to get Warner on strike, and finally Warner gets the opportunity he wants, enough width and short enough to uppercut over the cordon for four!
He sprints down to the non-striker’s end, leaps in the air, and embarks on an emotive series of movements, turning in circles, arms raised and outspread, helmet off, waving the bat at various groups of supporters, blowing a kiss towards the player balcony. No remonstrations, just delight, on reaching his 26th Test century.
42nd over: Australia 181-2 (Warner 98, Smith 11) Just as he did against the Dutch during the World Cup, Warner has slowed right down as he nears a hundred. Leaves several balls from Faheem outside the off stump. Forehands down a pull shot from a slow short ball that sits up, no run to midwicket, reaching outside off stump at width. At last gets a single through square leg from a fuller ball. Smith keeps the strike with a leg-side nudge.
41st over: Australia 179-2 (Warner 97, Smith 10) Another Smith pull for four! Gets well on top of that and clobbers it behind square. Taking on the short ball, does so again to a boundary rider at deep backward for one run. A slip with two gullies for Warner, who plays the short-arm jab off his hip for one. Jamal keeps bouncing Smith, who pulls another run. Warner jabs one to midwicket.
40th over: Australia 171-2 (Warner 95, Smith 4) Faheem Ashraf continues, and we have the rare sight of an umpire calling wide for a bouncer in a Test match. Well over Warner’s head. Decent over from Faheem, beats the inside edge at one stage, then almost brings a false shot with extra bounce as Warner cuts for two.
Geoff Lemon
39th over: Australia 168-2 (Warner 93, Smith 4) Thanks Angus. So it’s the old firm together again, Smith and Warner, Warner and Smith. Little David sways back to evade some short stuff from Aamer Jamal, who then errs in width allowing Warner to carve away a boundary behind point, then a single squarer.
38th over: Australia 163-2 (Warner 88, Smith 4) Steve Smith is out there (in every sense) and now he’s off the mark in style flaying a short Ashraf delivery over the infield for a beautiful, if belligerent, boundary. Lovely way to get off the mark from Smudge and the shot of a man with his eye in. Speaking of which… here’s Geoff Lemon to bring you home. Adios amigos!
WICKET! Labuschagne LBW Ashraf 16 (Australia 159-2)
Massive shout for LBW from Ashraf’s first delivery back… and it’s OUT! Labuschagne reviewed but the line and length looked good and there was no hint or sound of bat. Marnus must begin his customary slow walkoff.
37th over: Australia 159-1 (Warner 88, Labuschagne 16) Agha Salman, Pakistan’s part-time spinner, returns for his fourth over. He was miserly in his first spell, leaking just three runs from three overs but Labuschagne inflates those stats with a deuce then a single from the final two deliveries.
36th over: Australia 156-1 (Warner 88, Labuschagne 13) Beaten by Ashraf on the first, Warner shuffles across and grabs two from the second. The boundaries might have dried up for Warner but these two are running like rabbits between wickets and that keeps the screws turning on Pakistan. Warner is on 87 – supposedly Australian cricket’s most bedevilled number. He’s clearly not a superstitious gent though, dabbing a single to move past it and letting Labuschagne take one from the final delivery.
35th over: Australia 152-1 (Warner 85, Labuschagne 12) Warner has just 13 runs from 34 deliveries since lunch. Shahzad is challenging the front foot, nagging at a length, keeping things tight and trusting the pitch to spark a surprise. It’s good bowling, unglamorous but unstinting in its threat. Captain Masood has set a field with teeth for Labuschagne and his dash at the last can’t sneak through the circle. Good over, just a single from it.
34th over: Australia 151-1 (Warner 84, Labuschagne 12) Shaheen Afridi has left the field grimacing. He slipped retrieving a ball in the boundary in the last over and his left knee buckled. It’s the same knee that cost him games at the World Cup so let’s hope he’s okay because that could be a mortal blow if he was to suffer an injury. For now it’s Ashraf, zeroing in from wide off the crease and targeting the base of Warner’s stumps.
33rd over: Australia 148-1 (Warner 83, Labuschagne 11) In his first Test Shahzad is showing patience and precision. This is his ninth over now and only 24 from them… until Marnus taps a tall ball away and runs two to get off the mark. Rattled, the bowler strays with the next delivery, drifting to leg and Marnus clips it cleanly to the rope. He has 507 runs at this venue at an average of 169, not a bad return. And he makes it not-a-bad over, pillaging another three runs from another Shahzad no-ball. He takes a single from the fifth to move to 11 and Warner does likewise to retain the strike. Honours even so far in this session but Australia still ascendant.
32nd over: Australia 35-1 (Warner 82, Labuschagne 0) Shaheen returns with his tail up but Labuschagne is circumspect, happy to sit on his duck from nine balls. Shaheen has a fine pedigree for a Test cricketer with his older brother Riaz Afridi making a one Test cameo for Pakistan in 2004, when Shaheen was just four-years-old, and his father is enigmatic 26-Test allrounder Shahid Afridi. That mix makes for a feisty BBQ at Chez Afridi.
31st over: Australia 128-1 (Warner 75, Labuschagne 0) Warner chances a single from Shahzad and with a fleeter-footed partner at the crease, it comes off. Good cricket from the veteran. Pakistan were pumping each other up in the field and now they’re on alert again. Labuschagne leaves the fourth ball and it jags back nastily drawing a big shout but no review. Poor leave by the Australian first drop. He loves a lavish leave early in his innings as he looks for rhythm but that was almost the death of him. Shahzad is bowling beautifully after the break. Replays show that LBW shout was inline but just going over middle stump. Game on!
30th over: Australia 126-1 (Warner 75, Labuschagne 0) Shaheen had just brought up the second fifty of the series (52-0) before he drew a healthy edge from Khawaja and pumped air into the deflated Pakistan lungs. It was a big swish from Khawaja but the line was lethal and the catch was taken. That brings Labuschagne to the crease.
WICKET! Khawaja c Sarfaraz b Shaheen 41 (Australia 126-1)
A big edge from the bat and Shaheen has the breakthrough! That was good bowling from the Pakistan spearhead and lazy batting from Khawaja. A thick deflection and the keeper dives forward and left to take the chance. A just reward for much-improved bowling after lunch.
29th over: Australia 126-0 (Warner 75, Khawaja 41) Warner’s better-than-run-a-ball innings has slowed and he’s now dipped below a three-figure strike rate. Shahzad has kept him very honest this over with five dots, each challenging the stumps and forcing Warner further into his shell. The bowler’s reward is a weird edge as the batter withdraws his bat late and skids a ball short of slips.
28th over: Australia 126-0 (Warner 75, Khawaja 41) Pakistan were building pressure nicely until Khawaja freed his arms and swung Shaheen to the boundary rope. The big quick over-stepped and over-pitched and was punished. Lovely shot! Almost as lovely as the lashing cover drive he unfurls to the final delivery… but alas, this one doesn’t yield a run as sharp fielding stops it dead.
27th over: Australia 121-0 (Warner 75, Khawaja 37) Pakistan seem to guzzled a big glass of concrete at the lunch break. They have hardened up nicely in the resumption with tighter lines, better fields and some snarly chatter in amidst the team. The runs have duly dried up. Warner takes two but not before doing plenty of hopping around the crease.
26th over: Australia 118-0 (Warner 73, Khawaja 37) And we’re back! It will be Shaheen bowling to Warner who is watchful. Shaheen is the leader of this attack but the spearhead was blunted in the first session, leaking plenty of runs and spraying it around. Warner takes two from this over.
The cricket world was abuzz during the break with Australia’s 12th Man Cameron Green going public on his once life-threatening battle with kidney disease. A remarkable and inspiring story
Brilliant yet brutal batting from David Warner, some bad luck for Pakistan and a butterfingered moment that spared Usman Khawaja on 21 have been the talking points of this first session at Perth Stadium. Australia’s openers have marched along at almost five-per-over and Pakistan’s team selections already look dubious, with every bowler tried to little impact. With the opening pair set and the pitch settling, Pakistan need something special to get back into this Test. What can they muster? We’ll find out after lunch.
LUNCH
After 25 overs Australia are unbeaten at 116-0 (Warner 71*, Khawaja 37*)
25th over: Australia 116-0 (Warner 71, Khawaja 37) Here’s the last over before lunch and Pakistan will be on a go-slow praying for the safety of the dressing-rooms. What a bruising session it’s been for them – 117 runs leaked, a simple catch dropped and not a breakthrough in sight, despite every bowling option attempted. Australia play out a maiden from Salman and head to lunch happy. Having filled their boots in the middle they’ll now fill their bellies and fire up for another run feast after the break.
24th over: Australia 116-0 (Warner 71, Khawaja 37) Khawaja facing up to Shaheen. He has faced 13 deliveries more than Warner yet has 34 runs less. But these two have been batting together since they were kids in the Sydney suburbs and their fire-and-ice dynamic has made them into one of the finest opening pairs in Australia’s rich history. A rare maiden.
23rd over: Australia 116-0 (Warner 71, Khawaja 37) Trying to take pace out of the game, Salman returns and succeeds in his quest with just a single to Khawaja squeaked down the ground.
