Warner whacks 179 as Aussies thrash Pakistan
ADELAIDE: An insatiable David Warner blasted a career-best 179 and dominated Australia’s highest ever oneday partnership with fellow centurion Travis Head to help secure their 57-run victory in the fifth and final match against Pakistan yesterday.
Babar Azam (100) and Sharjeel Khan (79) kept alive Pakistan’s hopes of chasing down a 370-run victory target but they collapsed for 312 in the final over as Australia wrapped up the series 4-1.
For Pakistan, Shoaib Malik retired hurt after scoring 10, while Umar Akmal made a brisk 46 down the order.
With the hosts having already taken an unassailable lead in the series, the contest was of merely academic interest but Warner’s hunger for runs was on display in the high-scoring match at the Adelaide Oval again.
Warner went into the match with five centuries in his last 10 one-day innings and the diminutive left-hander brought up his sixth of the season in just 78 balls.
He was aided by his luck in the process.
After Australia elected to bat, Warner could have been dismissed from the first ball of the match but Azhar Ali spilled the edge at second slip off Mohammad Amir.
Some 32 overs later, Amir was the culprit as he floored a simple chance after Warner, then on 130, had gone after Hasan Ali, with the clanger leaving Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur shaking his head in dismay in the dressing room.
The 30-year-old set the tempo in the record 284-run stand with stop-gap opening partner Head, who went on to make 128, his maiden one-day century.
Having bettered his previous career-best of 178, the opener was eventually caught at point off Junaid Khan who dismissed captain Steve Smith in the same over. Warner belted 19 fours and five sixes in his 128-ball assault.
Skipper Eoin Morgan and batting mainstay Joe Root engineered England’s easy chase to secure their seven-wicket victory against India in the first Twenty20 International yesterday. England showed discipline with the ball to stifle India’s vaunted batting order, restricting them to a modest 147/7. The visitors then returned to overhaul their opponents’ target with 11 balls to spare, with Morgan hitting a fluent 51 and Root producing a run-a-ball 46 not out. The teams now move to Nagpur for the second Twenty20 of the three-match series on Sunday. After Morgan won the toss and opted to field, his bowlers stuck to impeccable line and length, rarely allowing the home batsmen to free their arms, with only one lone six being hit in the entire Indian innings.