Wonderful Warner makes ODI history

With his second hundred in eight days against South Africa, David Warner broke a 25-year-old Australian record for the most runs scored in a five-match bilateral series.

Warner, who made a remarkable 173 from 136 balls in Australia's 31-run defeat to the Proteas in the fifth ODI at Newlands, took his series tally to 386 runs – eclipsing the mark set by former opener Geoff Marsh, who made 349 in the Caribbean in February 1991.

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The vice-captain made scores of 40, 50, 117, 6 and today's 173 to set the new Australian record.

In a sign of the times, Warner's runs came at a strike-rate of 113.52, compared to Marsh's 68.29, with both batsmen posting two centuries and one half-century along the way.

The Australian benchmark is some way short of the overall record of 467, held by Zimbabwean Hamilton Masakadza, who set the record in October 2009 against Kenya.

Among two Test-playing nations, disgraced Pakistani Salman Butt's 451 runs against Bangladesh in April 2008 is the high watermark.

It was a ninth ODI hundred for Warner, who joins Marsh and Shane Watson on that figure, the trio equal fifth overall among Australians, behind Ricky Ponting (30), Mark Waugh (18), Adam Gilchrist (16) and Matthew Hayden (10).

Upon reaching 150, Warner also became the first Australian – and ninth overall – to register three scores of 150-plus in ODIs; Gilchrist, Hayden, Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds all reached 150 on two occasions.

Warner's innings also broke Ponting's mark of 164 as the highest ODI score by an Australian against South Africa – a tally bettered only by Sachin Tendulkar (200no) worldwide – and earned the batsman a unique record; his 24 fours were the most boundaries in an ODI innings that didn't include a six.

It is also the equal-fourth-highest ODI score ever made by an Australian, joining Mark Waugh's career-best and behind knocks by Watson (185), Hayden (181) and Warner himself (178), and the fourth highest total in a losing cause.

The dashing left-hander also became the first player in 2016 to 1,000 ODI runs, reaching the mark in 20 matches.

It's been a remarkable run for Warner in the 50-over game – until this year widely regarded as his weakest format – with five of his hundreds coming since January along with four half-centuries (two of which were scores of 98 and 93).

Those five hundreds equal the record set by Ponting (twice) and Hayden for the most by an Australian in a calendar year.

Earlier in the series, Warner reached 3,000 ODI runs in his 81st innings – one innings slower than Michael Bevan and George Bailey, the latter reaching the milestone in the same match.