SYDNEY - David Warner joined the illustrious company of Don Bradman and Victor Trumper with a Test century before lunch as rookie partner Matthew Renshaw hit his maiden hundred against Pakistan on Tuesday.

Warner smashed a whirlwind 18th Test hundred off 78 balls in just 117 minutes, while 20-year-old Renshaw blossomed after claiming his century in 282 minutes in the third Test in Sydney.

At the close, after winning the toss, Australia were 365 for three with Renshaw taking his score to 167 and fellow newcomer Peter Handscomb on 40 in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 121.

Warner became the first Australian since Bradman 87 years ago to make a century in the opening session of a Test, and the only batsman to achieve the feat in Australia. Bradman made 105 in Leeds in 1930 on his way to 334, with fellow Australians Trumper hitting 103 in Manchester in 1902 and Charlie Macartney scoring 112 at Leeds in 1926.

Warner was finally out 20 minutes after lunch, caught behind by Sarfraz Ahmed off Wahab Riaz for 113 off 95 balls with 17 fours. "That's obviously an honour and privilege to be amongst the greats of the game," Warner said.

"It's great to be out there with those guys. Hopefully I can continue with that great start and positive approach. I started last year with a hundred here (against the West Indies) and I started here with another hundred here and I've got to capitalise on that."

The only other player to post a century before lunch on the first day of a Test was Pakistan's Majid Khan (108) against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976.

Warner's knock eclipsed his previous fastest century at the SCG -- off 82 balls in last year's Test against the West Indies. Vice-captain Warner has now scored 5,206 runs in 60 Tests at an average of 49.11.

In contrast to Warner's dazzling century, rookie Renshaw provided the steady foil, painstakingly taking almost five hours to bring up his maiden Test century. Renshaw fought back from a head-rattling blow on the grille of his batting helmet from speedster Mohammad Amir on 91 to go on and claim his resilient hundred.

"That first session was all a bit of a whirlwind. He was absolutely smoking them and I was trudging along on not many," Renshaw said of batting with Warner. "I was trying to not keep up with him as I have in the past, apparently."

Renshaw also successfully overturned a leg before wicket decision to leg spinner Yasir Shah on 137 when a review showed he had edged onto his pad. It was a timely innings for the Yorkshire-born youngster ahead of next month's demanding four-Test tour of India, where he faces a challenge for his opening spot from the fit-again and vastly more experienced Shaun Marsh.

There were precious few successes on a deflating first day for the tourists after their shattering innings defeat in last week's second Melbourne Test to lose the series. "Our execution was not up to the mark and at the end of the day it's a bowling unit that's not doing really good," paceman Wahab Riaz said. "As a bowling unit we have let our team down."

Usman Khawaja was put down on three by Babar Azam in the gully off Imran Khan before he too was caught behind off Riaz for 13. Skipper Steve Smith, playing in his 50th Test, was caught behind cutting Shah for 24, his lowest score of a series in which he scored centuries in each of the first two matches.

A century before lunch

5 Batsmen to score centuries before lunch on the first day of a Test. David Warner became the latest to join Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Don Bradman and Majid Khan to achieve this feat. The last such instance was more than 40 years ago when Majid did it against New Zealand in Karachi in October 1976. The first three were all before World War II.

 

1 Instance of an individual scoring 100 or more runs in the first session on any day of a Test in Australia. Warner is the first to do so. The previous highest was 98 by Clive Lloyd at the WACA in the first session of the third day in 1975-76. The previous highest by an Australia player at home was 95 by Adam Voges against West Indies in Hobart in the first session on second day in the last season.

 

78 Balls in which Warner completed the century - the fastest by any player at the SCG. The previous record was off 82 balls set by himself in the last New Year Test against West Indies. This is Warner's second-quickest Test century after his 69-ball effort against India at the WACA in 2011-12. Overall, this is the fourth-fastest century among Australia batsmen.

1 Quicker centuries against Pakistan by any batsman compared to Warner's 78-ball effort. Brian Lara had scored one off 77 balls in Multan in 2006-07. Brendon McCullum also scored in 78 balls in Sharjah in 2014-15.

 

2 Australia openers younger than Matt Renshaw, who is 20 years, 281 days, to score a Test century - Archie Jackson at 19 years, 149 days and Phillip Hughes 20 years, 96 days. Overall, Renshaw is the seventh-youngest centurion for Australia. Among openers overall, he is the fourth-youngest to score 150 or more in an innings.

 

3 Higher scores by Australia openers at SCG than Renshaw who is unbeaten on 167 at end of the day. The highest is Sid Barnes' 234 in Ashes 1946-47. Among all openers, Renshaw's score is the tenth-highest at the SCG.

 

240 Previous highest aggregate by Australia openers in an innings at the SCG, against England in 1987-88. Warner and Renshaw have already added a combined 280 runs. This is also only the third instance of both home openers scoring centuries in the same innings at the SCG and the first since Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden did so against South Africa in the 2002 New Year Test.

 

18 Test centuries for Warner - the most by any player since his debut in December 2011. However, he has converted only three of those hundreds into scores of 150 or more.

 

3 Consecutive centuries by Warner in New Year Tests. He had also made 101 against India in 2015 and 122 not out against West Indies in 2016. He is only the fourth player after Wally Hammond (four), David Boon and VVS Laxman (three each) to score centuries in three consecutive Tests at the SCG. Warner now has three centuries each in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.

 

150.33 Australia's average opening stand in the first innings of last three SCG Tests. Chris Rogers and Warner added 200 runs against India in 2015, Warner and Joe Burns shared 100 against West Indies in 2016 and now Renshaw and Warner added 151 runs in this innings. Before these three Tests, they had only one century stand in 21 innings in 11 Tests.

 Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS:
M Renshaw not out 167
D Warner c Sarfraz b Riaz 113
U Khawaja c Sarfraz b Riaz 13
S Smith c Sarfraz b Shah 24
P Handscomb not out 40
EXTRAS: (b2, lb1, w1, nb4) 8
TOTAL: (3 wkts, 88 overs) 365
FOW: 1-151, 2-203, 3-244
BOWLING: Aamir 16-1-58-0, Imran 17-3-81-0 (2nb), Riaz 19-4-63-2 (2nb, 1w), Shah 30-2-132-1, Azhar 4-0-16-0, Shafiq 2-0-12-0
TOSS: Australia
UMPIRES: Sundaram Ravi (IND) and Richard Illingworth (ENG)
THIRD UMPIRE: Ian Gould (ENG)
MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)