The hundreds scored by David Warner and Matt Renshaw at the SCG on Tuesday were a study in contrasts and were both invaluable to Australia’s cause in the short and long term
Brydon Coverdale at the SCG03-Jan-2017At 1.32pm, David Warner raised his bat as he walked off the Sydney Cricket Ground. His innings was over, but what an innings it had been. The fifth man in history to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test. The fourth-fastest Test hundred by an Australian. His third ton in consecutive SCG Tests. When he walked off having edged behind off Wahab Riaz, Warner had 113 from 95 balls.At 4.39pm, Warner was finally overtaken by his opening partner. Matt Renshaw’s loosest shot of the day, an attempted flick through leg that instead flew off an edge and over gully for four, took him past Warner’s score. When Warner raised his hundred, Renshaw was on 21. When Warner’s innings ended, Renshaw had 37. More than three hours later, he had outscored Warner.Slow and steady wins the race – not that either of them was a loser today.It should have been no surprise that their Sydney hundreds were a study in contrasts, for so are the two men themselves. Warner was the slogger who played Twenty20 internationals before he made his first-class debut; Renshaw is the defender who has played Test cricket, but is yet to play even a single domestic Twenty20 game. Of Warner’s first hundred runs, 69 came through off; of Renshaw’s first hundred, 68 came through leg.A left-hand/right-hand pair might be the ideal opening combination but if Australia can’t have that, then at least these two left-handers will frustrate opposing bowlers with their differing styles. Their fortunes in Sydney, albeit against an insipid Pakistan, are highly encouraging for Australia. So are their partnerships since the Adelaide Test, when they became Australia’s newest opening combination: 64, 70, 12, 46 and 151.And, of course, Warner contributed 113 of today’s 151. If his hundred in Melbourne last week was scratchy, this was anything but. Pakistan helped him with poor fields and deliveries that fed his scoring zones, but it is hard to imagine anything stopping Warner on a day like this. By the six-over mark he had struck eight fours. Perhaps only in Baarle-Hertog are boundaries more ubiquitous than they were early in Warner’s innings.When he raced through for three in the final over before lunch, then sprinted away towards the SCG’s historic Members Pavilion for his familiar leaping celebration, Warner knew he had achieved something special. It wasn’t until he left the field for lunch a few balls later that he found out special. He had become just the fifth man in all of Test history to score a hundred in the first session of a Test.That is an achievement that bears repeating. Test cricket has been played for 140 years, and this is the 2245th Test. And in all of that time, in all of those matches, only four men had previously achieved what Warner did today. Victor Trumper, Charlie Macartney, Don Bradman and Majid Khan – fine company indeed for Warner to join. Before this innings, it had occurred only once since 1930. The feat had never been achieved in Australia.And by reaching his century in 78 balls, Warner added his name yet again to the list of Australia’s fastest Test hundreds. Warner now owns three of the five quickest Test centuries scored for Australia, and perhaps the most remarkable thing about this one was that it did not feature a single six. His boundaries flowed through gaps and rarely did he take what could be called an undue risk. It was an innings both chanceless and priceless.Where Warner carved and slashed most of his runs through the off side, Matt Renshaw scored a high proportion of his runs through nudges and nurdles off his pads•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesIt took Warner just one session to score his 18th Test hundred; Renshaw took three sessions to make his first. And if context is required to appreciate how special Warner’s innings was, the same is the case with Renshaw.By scoring his first Test hundred at the age of 20, Renshaw became the seventh-youngest man to make a Test century for Australia, behind Neil Harvey, Archie Jackson, Doug Walters, Phillip Hughes, Don Bradman and Jim Burke. His maturity at the crease has been remarkable over most of the past four Tests. Notably, when Warner was flying in the first session, Renshaw was unfussed, and was happy simply to rotate the strike.Renshaw is nicknamed “Turtle” by his Australia team-mates – supposedly he is quiet around the senior players, but occasionally and surprisingly comes out of his shell. It is also an apt description of his batting. A nudger and nurdler who scores heavily off his pads, Renshaw was naturally joyous when he finally brought up his hundred, from his 201st delivery. In 17 SCG Test appearances, Allan Border never made a hundred; Renshaw has done so in his first.Personally, it was an important innings, for while Renshaw had shown promise in his first three Tests he was yet to deliver the big score that proved him a Test batsman. And with a tour of India next month, and Shaun Marsh likely to be in the thoughts of the selectors, Renshaw needed the kind of innings that would make him undroppable. That is precisely what he delivered.Perhaps the most impressive feature of Renshaw’s innings was the way he remained unfazed by a nasty blow to the helmet from a Mohammad Amir bouncer when he was on 91. If the nineties weren’t nervous enough already, he could have been forgiven for turning to stone after that delivery. It struck with such force that the grille of his helmet was pushed demonstrably to his left, but no signs of concussion were detected, and he batted on.Ten balls later, he had cruised through the nineties and into triple figures. At precisely 5.30pm – the designated stumps time – he passed 150. By stumps, half an hour later, he had passed Jackson’s 164. Renshaw had 167 not out as he walked off the field, and no man as young had ever scored that many in a Test innings for Australia. Renshaw had built on Warner’s stunning platform and had delivered Australia into a powerful position by stumps.In the context of the match, their innings were both remarkable. In the context of Test history, they were astonishing.
