Centurions Warner-Marsh pummell Pakistan, power Australia to 367 for 9

Brutal hundreds by David Warner and Mitchell Marsh led Australias batting renaissance in the ICC World Cup 2023 league stage match as they piled a hefty 367 for 9 against a listless Pakistan on FridayWarner hammered his 21st ODI hundred a 124ball 163 and Marsh his second a 108ball 121 as the fivetime champions twisted the knife on their opposition through their opening pair who built a massive 259run association in just 203 ballsIt was only fourth instance in World Cup history that both openers notched centuries in the same matchAustralia who were asked to bat first needed a dominant show to spruce up their confidence after three middling efforts that fetched two defeats and a win in this tournament and they did it with a bangLeftarm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridis fivewicket haul 554 was just a sad reminder as to what other Pakistan bowlers could have done with a bit of thinking on a vastly underwhelming dayWarner who was dropped twice on 10 and 105 and Marsh were at their marauding best against a Pakistan attack that lacked direction on a smooth M Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch with a quick outfield adding value to the shots tooThey were either too full too short or strayed on to the legs and the Aussie batters did not need any second invitation to exploit the flowing freebiesAll this could have been a tad different for Pakistan had Usama Mir who replaced Shadab Khan held on to a simple skier from Warner off Afridi the best among Pakistan bowlers this day with his clever variations inside the ringWarner was on 10 then in Australias total of 22Also Read Rohit Sharma becomes fifthleading runscorer in ODI World Cup historyFrom that point there was no looking back for the Aussies Pakistan captain Babar Azam gave the ball to Haris Rauf in the ninth over hoping for a breakthroughBut the Aussies slipped into the top gear from that over The rightarm pacer was carted for 24 runs in his first over Warner started the carnage with a four and six and Marsh finished it with three fours in successionThereafter Australias runrate hardly came under seven for the rest of the inningsHasan Ali found some early movement away from Marsh but Warner took him head on with a series of pulls and flicks including a monster six that thudded on to the roof to neutralize the pacerPakistan pressed their spinners Mir and leftarm spinner Mohammad Nawas into service but they made zero impactThey were quite unimaginative and just kept feeding both Warner and Marsh who preferred the ground route early on in his innings with short balls which were effortlessly put awayAustralia notched up their 100 in the 13th over 200th in the 30th over and 300 in the 41st over as their run machine marched forward inexorablyWarner brought up his hundred fourth consecutive against Pakistan in ODIs with a single off Mir and the signature jumpandpunch celebration followed to the joy of a near full house of crowd that encouraged both the sidesBirthday boy Marsh followed his senior partner soon in reaching the threefigure mark with a boundary off Mir and he celebrated the landmark with a mighty roarMarsh departed soon when his flick off Afridi was snaffled by Mir at short fine leg a rare occasion for a Pakistan fielder to hold on to a catch on a day when they dropped three catches in all along with numerous other fumbles on the fieldHe walked back only after helping Warner to realise the secondbest opening stand in World Cups after 282 between Sri Lankas Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga in 2011Post Marshs dismissal Pakistan did manage to pluck some quick wickets including that of Warner scalp but Australia by then had reached the batting stratosphereWith inputs from agencies