AUS vs SA: David Warner storms into record books with stunning double ton in 100th Test

After a gap of 2 years, 11 months, and 24 days, Australian opener David Warner notched up a Test century while playing the second Test against South Africa. Warner, who was playing his 100th Test match, found his mojo back as he converted his century into a double-ton, thereby breaking multiple records on his way to the milestone.

The 36-year-old had been going through a lean patch in the game’s longest format. He had been struggling to get going with the bat, and the discrepancies with Cricket Australia regarding the upliftment of his captaincy ban took a toll on him mentally too. But after a gap of almost three years, Warner achieved triple figures in Test cricket, scoring his first ton since January 3, 2020.

The ball-tampering incident against South Africa led to Warner and Steve Smith facing suspension from Cricket Australia. The ongoing Test series against the Proteas marked Warner’s first against the opponent since the incident of 2018. After a terrible outing in the first Test at Brisbane, which saw the Test ending in two days, Warner made a strong comeback and shut his critics and trolls in style.

Here are the records that Warner achieved during the game:

1.      Joint-most centuries as an opener across formats

David Warner equaled Sachin Tendulkar’s record of scoring the most centuries, across all formats, as an opener. The two now share the top spot with 45 centuries to their name. Though Tendulkar has a total of 100 centuries to his name across formats, he hit 45 of them as an opener.

2.      First player in Test history to score at least three hundreds at the five major Australian venues

David Warner, with his century at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) became the first ever player in the history of Test cricket to score at least three centuries across all five big Australian grounds. He has now hit minimum of three centuries at the MCG, the Gabba, the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), the WACA (Optus Stadium) in Perth, and the Adelaide Oval.

3.      Only the second player after Gordon Greenidge to smash centuries in their 100th Test and 100th ODI both

Warner became the first Australian, and just the second player overall after Barbadian great Gordon Greenidge to score a century in the 100th Test as well as 100th ODI. Warner played his 100th ODI in September 2017 and notched up a century against India in Bangalore.

4.      First Australian, and only the second player overall, after Joe Root, to hit a double century in the 100th Test

Warner became the first-ever Australian cricketer to score a double-ton in his 100th Test. While no other Aussie has achieved this feat, only one other player- Joe Root, is a part of the list. The former England skipper too scored a double century while playing his 100th Test match.

5.      Second-most centuries across formats among active players

Warner, with his 45th international century, surpassed Joe Root and is now the player with the second-highest number of centuries in the list of active cricketers. Former India skipper Virat Kohli tops the list with 72 international centuries to his name.

6.      Second-highest score by an opener in Tests in 2022

Warner will end the year 2022 on a positive note as he became the player to notch up the second-highest score in Test cricket this year while opening the innings. The other opener ahead of him is New Zealand’s Tom Latham, who notched up 252 runs.

7.      Second Australian to hit a century in 100th Test

Warner joined Ricky Ponting in the elite list and became just the second Australian cricketer to hit a century in their 100th Test match. Ponting had scored twin centuries in his 100th Test match.

8.      10th player to hit a century in 100th Test

Not many players have managed to hit a century in the 100th Test. The players are already under pressure, knowing the fact that their 100th game is a big milestone. But batting so well under pressure and hitting a ton is a big deal. Warner became just the 10th player overall to have hit a century in the 100th Test.

9.      8th Australian player to score 8000 Test runs

The opening batter, on his way to scoring the century, surpassed 8000 international runs in Test cricket and became just the eighth player from his country to achieve the feat.

10.   5th Australian to score 5000 runs on home soil

Warner became just the fifth Australian cricket to score 5000 runs, across all formats, on home soil. While there are players who dominate in overseas conditions, Warner surely has an upper hand on the Australian soil.