Warner set to eclipse Sachin's benchmark

If history observes a sense of symmetry, David Warner should elevate himself above an exclusive club numbering just three – of which one is India's batting deity Sachin Tendulkar – and stand amid rarefied air in the shadows of Cape Town's Table Mountain this week.

Warner enters today's third test of the Qantas Tour of South Africa carrying an unprecedented form line on this foreign track and in circumstances hauntingly similar to his maiden Test gallop at the historic Newlands ground four years ago.

That was when he and his Australia teammates – stung by South Africa's resurgence in a feisty second Test at Port Elizabeth and with the host nation further galvanised by a perceived slur upon their collective character – rallied to record one of their most memorable recent wins.

A victory built on the belligerent opener's twin centuries, a feat not achieved by a visiting Test batter to Cape Town before or since.

And two innings of such decisive mastery that they live long in the memories of all who witnessed them; efforts that must surely steep Warner with recollections that will buoy his confidence as he heads into battle today.

In the space of a solitary Test appearance at Newlands at the conclusion of that combative 2014 series, Warner joined Tendulkar and his then Australia captain Michael Clarke as the only non-South Africa Test batters to boast multiple hundreds at the historic ground.

Such is Newlands' reputation for favouring bowlers – it has hosted more than twice the number of sub-50 Test innings totals as the next-most challenging global venues – that it has rendered some of the game's greats as merely mortal.

From his four appearances at the ground that first saw Test cricket in 1889, ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting managed a solitary century and averaged 34.57, well below his career mark of 51.85 and his least productive venue outside England at places where he played more than five innings.

That Tendulkar (169 in 1996 and 146 in 2011), Clarke (151 in 2011 and 161 not out in 2014) and Warner (145 and 135 four years ago) are the only visiting players to have their names on the Newlands honours board more than once across 55 Tests is noteworthy.

The reality that Warner in his one and only Test match thus far and former Proteas allrounder Jacques Kallis – born and raised in Cape Town and with an unsurpassed 22 matches on his home turf – are the only players to post twin tons in the same game, is remarkable.

With the added caveat that Warner's centuries came against the new ball, albeit with South Africa's strike bowler Dale Steyn hobbled by a hamstring strain after the current Australia vice-captain and his opening partner Chris Rogers carved 18 runs from his first two overs on that opening morning.

His first innings of that match was one of trademark audacity, his early assault on Steyn immediately arresting the momentum built by the Proteas a week earlier when their star quick bowled them to a thumping win at Port Elizabeth.

It also validated Clarke's pre-match observation that Warner – who had courted controversy in the wake of the second Test by claiming in a radio interview that the South Africans were actively altering the condition of the ball during play – was likely to let his batting silence any off-field detractors.

The 135 Warner pummelled from 152 balls faced not only exasperated the Proteas' helpless bowlers and their loyal fans, it lifted the tourists to a commanding day one position of 2-331 from which a Test – and series – win was always going to be tough for their foes to stop.

That position of strength was converted to one of unassailability when Warner went back-to-bat in the second innings, his team already 207 runs in ascendancy and the opener so brutally dominant that at one stage rival skipper Graeme Smith placed all nine of his fielders on the boundary rope.

In addition, the dominant batter of that three-match series – Warner topped 50 in five of his six innings and ended it with an average of 90.50 – taunted his opponents who might have expected him to bite his tongue given the sanctions he copped for his code of behavior breach the previous week.

"You don't always want to play like that, but when there is a little bit of pressure on I do find another gear," Warner would say in the aftermath of his free-wheeling 145 from 156 balls that included 13 fours and four sixes and enabled Australia to set South Africa an unfeasible fourth innings target of 510.

"It does help me sometimes but I think the other thing is that when I get out there and they start giving me a little bit of banter I love that, I am in the contest then.

"If they are not going to talk to me when I am out there I will try to niggle them, I will try and say something when I bat.

"I love it when they come at me, it is a challenge."

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26. Live coverage

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage