Brisbane: Joe Burns scored his maiden Test century and his opening partner David Warner his 14th as Australia finished the third day of the first Test against New Zealand in a dominant position on 264 for four with a lead of 503 runs on Saturday. 

Burns, playing on his home ground in his third Test, smashed two sixes in three balls to reach the milestone just before rain halted play for 50 minutes in the final session. Warner, who scored 163 in the first innings, joined him with a century of his own after the weather delay — the third time he has made hundreds in both innings of a Test.

The opening partnership was broken with 237 runs on the board when Warner departed for 116 attempting a switch-hit slog sweep and Burns followed him soon afterwards for 129. 

Captain Steve Smith (1) and Mitchell Marsh (2) were also dismissed as Australia chased runs, leaving Usman Khawaja (9) and Adam Voges, who had yet to score, to resume on day four.

Warner and Burns had combined to contribute 161 of Australia’s 556-4 declared in the first innings and it was the first time openers had put together partnerships in excess of 150 in both innings of a Test.

“We actually thought we were doing very well when we came off for the rain break, and Steve said to go a bit harder,” Warner said at day’s end. “At 30 overs, 0-170, we actually thought we were going alright. You probably saw I tried to chip one out of the park first ball back, but yeah, our instructions were to try to get to 500 as fast as possible and that’s what we tried to do, and I think we’ve achieved our target at the moment.”

“Credit to the openers for putting the runs on the board,” spinner Nathan Lyon said.

“With the weather hanging around, you never know what’s going to happen and it’s given Steve Smith the option of declaring whenever he wants to.”

New Zealand, who had resumed on 157-5, were earlier dismissed for 317 after a brilliantly defiant 140 from Kane Williamson but Smith decided not to enforce the follow-on despite the 239-run deficit.

(Reuters)