PERTH: Australian opener David Warner not only silenced his critics but also went past two Aussie legends as he kickstarted his farewell Test series with a century against Pakistan on Thursday. The explosive Aussie opener smashed 164 in 211 balls, with 16 fours and four sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 77.72.

During one of his best innings, as he was playing under massive pressure to perform following underwhelming Test returns for the past two years, Warner entered the top five run-getters for Australia in Test cricket, leapfrogging Matthew Hayden (8,625 runs) and Michael Clarke (8,643 runs). In the all-time list, his big hundred helped him surpass fellow swashbucklers Sir Viv Richards (8,540 runs) and Virender Sehwag (8,586 runs). Warner now stands fifth among Australia's highest Test run-getters with 8,651 runs at an average of 45.05, with 26 centuries and 36 fifties, trailing only Steve Smith (9,351 runs), Steve Waugh (10,927 runs), Allan Border (11,174 runs) and Ricky Ponting (13,378 runs).

Coming to the match, Australia opted to bat first. Warner combined with Usman Khawaja (41 in 98 balls, with six fours) to have a 126-run opening partnership. The left-hander later went on to have valuable partnerships with Steve Smith (31 in 60 balls, with four boundaries) and Travis Head (40 in 53 balls, with six fours) to guide Aussies to 346/5 at the end of day one.

Aamer Jamal (2/63) was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Faheem Ashraf, Khurram Shahzad took a wicket each.