Barbados (West Indies): Veteran southpaw opener David Warner etched his name into the history books by surpassing former captain Aaron Finch to become the leading run-getter for Australia in the T20 international cricket. He achieved an incredible landmark during the clash between Australia and minnows Oman at the Kensington Oval Stadium here on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old didn't adopt the high-risk, high-reward approach and took his time to settle on the tricky surface in his team's campaign opener clash of the ongoing ninth edition of the T20 World Cup 2024. He smashed his 56 off 51 balls, glistened with six boundaries and a maximum.
The southpaw batter has 3,155 runs in 104 matches to his name. He surpassed Finch's tally of 3,120, which he racked up in 103 matches at an average of 34.28 and a strike rate of 142.53.
The Kangaroos lost Travis Head, captain Mitchell Marsh and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell cheaply which forced the experienced opening batter to take time to free his arms and effectively negated Oman's spin threat. He came down the track, opened his arms and sent the ball onto the stands to raise his bat for the 27th T20I fifty on the 46th delivery he faced in the innings.
Warner, who is the only Australian batter to feature in 100 games across formats of the game, was eventually dismissed by Oman right-arm pacer Kaleemullah after he ended up mistiming his shot to the fielder at long-off. His fifty took him past the former West Indies hard-hitting opener Chris Gayle. Warner has 111 fifties in T20 cricket while Gayle managed to get 110 fifties under his belt. India stalwart batter Virat Kohli is the closest competitor to Warner's tally with 105 fifties.
Coming to the match, Warner stitched a 102-run partnership with all-rounder Marcus Stoinis that helped Australia score 164/5 on board. Stoinis was the top scorer for Australia as he racked up an unbeaten 67 off a mere 36 deliveries. His influential knock was laced with two fours and a whopping six sixes.
After producing a standout performance with the bat, Stoinis completed a three-wicket haul in his three-over spell and conceded 19 runs. He was adjudged the Player of the Match for his all-rounded performance. In reply of 166, Oman managed to reach 126/9 in their allotted 20 overs.
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