Kolkata: Australian batting heavyweight David Warner scored a belligerent knock of 119 from 114 balls to take his tally of ODI centuries to six, surpassing Ricky Ponting’s record of five in a calendar year. Warner now stands just behind Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar who had tallies of seven and nine ODI hundreds in a calendar year, respectively.
However Ganguly’s record is in peril as Warner still has an ODI to play and with the kind of form he’s in, it is likely that he is going to be just behind the Master Blaster by the end of the year.
What Warner said…
“I think first and foremost it’s probably been the format I reckon I struggled at early in my career,” and “The last 18-24 months I’ve really worked hard on trying to construct my innings and build an innings and not play too many big shots early on.”
David Warner’s gritty knock came against New Zealand in the second ODI of the Chapell-Hadlee trophy after Australia had taken a 1-0 lead in the series.
Captain Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to bowl on a Manuka wicket that looked ideal for batting. The Australians made the most of this opportunity of batting first as they stacked up a massive 378/5 with able contributions coming in from centurion Warner(119),Smith(72) Mitchell Marsh (76) and Travis Head(57).
New Zealand made a complete mess out of the chase as the only notable contributions came from skipper Williamson (81), Neesham (74) and Guptill (45) as the others failed to help New Zealand stage a comeback in the series.
Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowlers as he grabbed a 4-41 and took the crucial wickets of the in-form man Martin Guptill and captain Kane Williamson. Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner and Josh Hazelwood grabbed two wickets apiece.
The third and the final ODI of the series is going to be played at the MCG on the 9th of December. Australia have already won the series 2-0 and have reclaimed the Chapell-Hadlee trophy.They would have a whitewash on their minds and New Zealand have a mountain to climb if they have to salvage some pride for themselves.