Australia have found their answer at the top, with centurion David Warner and Joe Burns hitting the team’s highest opening stand in four years in their pummelling of Pakistan. Warner went to stumps at 151 not out and Joe Burns struck 97 at the Gabba as Australia finished Friday’s second day on 312-1, in reply to Pakistan’s 240.
Marnus Labuschagne also joined the run-fest, unbeaten on 55 at the close. Warner and Burns’s 222-run stand was the team’s biggest at the top since the same pair put on 237 against New Zealand in 2015 at the same venue. In the time since, Australia have used no less than 13 opening combinations.
Friday’s stand also more than doubled the runs for Australia from their opening stands in this year’s five-Test Ashes series, where 18 was the best return. In that series, Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft partnered Warner at the top, as all three struggled against the English quicks and seaming ball.
But back at home against a Pakistan attack struggling to make the ball move, Warner and Burns showed their prowess at the top. The former was dominant on the front foot; he punished Pakistan through the covers every time they overpitched and pulled with power as his innings went on.
In his first Test back on home soil since the ball-tampering affair, he scored more runs and faced more balls (265) than he did in the entire Ashes. He survived a life on 56, edging exciting debutant Naseem Shah behind, only for replays to show the quick had overstepped and Warner was called back. He was also close to being run out on 93, making his crease by just centimetres to beat a Yasir Shah direct hit.
Burns was a little more nervy early before finding his groove. He bottom-edged a cut shot off his first ball but it didn’t carry to wicketkeeper Muhammad Rizwan. But he grew with confidence as the day went on, hooking and driving Naseem and dominating spinner Iftikhar Ahmed, both down the ground and on the sweep.
Eventually, a sweep brought about his downfall, gloving one back onto his own stumps from Yasir just three shy of his century. Regardless, Burns’ combination with Warner is believed to have been part of the reason for his recall.
Friday’s partnership is their fourth century stand in 10 innings together, and they average more than 50 as a combination. At the Gabba, their record is even stronger, with their 620 runs combined in three innings at the ground the most productive of any pairing in history.
Pakistan toiled away with their No 1 bowler Muhammad Abbas watching on from the sideline, controversially overlooked. Only 16-year-old Naseem offered any spark as he regularly topped 145kph, but the visitors struggled to build pressure around him as their fielding also fell apart.