The Aussie carted the ball all over the Adelaide Oval
David Warner paid tribute to dearly departed team-mate Phil Hughes in Adelaide today by unfurling a range of attacking strokes that his fellow opening batsman would definitely have approved of.
Warner thumped 145 off 163 balls to give the Aussies the ascendancy after day one of the First Test. There was an emotional, 63-second ovation in honour of Hughes, who died less than 48 hours after being struck by a bouncer on the back of the neck, before a ball was bowled.
It took 19 balls until the first bouncer was sent down, by Varun Aaron, and the gesture was met with hearty applause from both home and travelling supporters. Warner climbed into the Pakistan attack from the get-go but found himself stalled on 63 – the number of runs Hughes was at when he was struck – for several minutes.
Warner told EWN Sport, ‘It was such a horrific incident and a rare incident that in the back of mind even when a spinner was bowling, just being on that number felt on the back of mind it wasn’t right. I just wanted to try and get past that and move on from that and it was quite tough when I was on 63 to actually get that momentum.’
Once the opener surpassed that milestone there was no stopping him, with the crowd rising as one to salute his century.
Warner hopes there will be more big scores and centuries in his career but believes his latest knock is the greatest so far. ‘That’s gonna stick with me for the rest of my life,’ he said.
‘I just had a gut feeling that my little mate (Hughes) was with me down the other end with me the whole time, from ball one and he would be at the other end laughing at me about all the support and people that have sent their messages. I don’t think he would have believed the amount of support that he’s had from not just around Australia but around the world. He’d be quite embarrassed.’
