Warner century helps Australia to win against Pakistan in ICC World Cup

Taunton: David Warner scored his first international century since completing a ball-tampering ban as Australia returned to winning ways at the World Cup with a 41-run victory over Pakistan at Taunton on Wednesday.

Warner made 107 and, with Australia captain Aaron Finch (82), got the defending champions off to a flying start with an opening stand of 146 - the highest partnership for any wicket at this World Cup to date.

Mohammad Amir dragged Pakistan back into the game with career-best figures of five for 30 in 10 overs but Australia still managed to post a challenging score of 307, which ultimately proved beyond their opponents.

"It means a lot to a batter to get a century," said Man-of-the-Match Warner. "It was a great effort from Pakistan in the end but our bowlers bowled excellent. They probably got closer than we expected."

Pakistan, after a middle-order collapse that saw them lose three wickets for 11 runs in 15 balls, were all but beaten at 200 for seven in the 34th over.

But captain Sarfaraz Ahmed (40) and the big-hitting Wahab Riaz (45) gave them renewed hope with a stand of 64.

Australia, who lost to India on Sunday, were again looking to Mitchell Starc to get them out of a tight spot, as had done in an earlier win over the West Indies and the fast bowler duly delivered with 2-43.

He had Wahab caught behind got off a thin edge, although it needed an Australia review of an original not out decision to leave Pakistan 264-8

Two balls later, Amir played on for a duck before Glenn Maxwell ended the match with a brilliant direct hit run out of Sarfaraz.

SCOREBOARD:

A. Finch c Hafeez b Amir 82

S. Smith c Asif b Hafeez 10

G. Maxwell b Shaheen 20

S. Marsh c Malik b Amir 23

U. Khawaja c Riaz b Amir 18

A. Carey lbw Amir 20

N. Coulter-Nile c Sarfaraz b Riaz 2

P. Cummins c Sarfaraz b Hasan 2

M. Starc c Malik b Amir 3

K. Richardson not out 1

Extras (lb10, nb3, w6) 19

Total (all out, 49 overs) 307

Fall: 1-146, 2-189, 3-223, 4-242, 5-277, 6-288, 7-299, 8-302, 9-304, 10-307

Bowling: Amir 10-2-30-5 (1w), Shaheen 10-0-70-2 (1nb, 1w), Hasan 10-0-67-1 (1nb, 3w), Riaz 8-0-44-1 (1w), Hafeez 7-0-60-1, Malik 4-0-26-0 (1nb)

Pakistan

I Haq c Alex Carey b Pat Cummins 53

F Zaman c Kane Richardson b Pat Cummins 0

B Azam c Kane Richardson b Nathan Coulter-Nile 30

M Hafeez c Mitchell Starc b Aaron Finch 46

S Ahmed Run Out Glenn Maxwell 40

S Malik c Alex Carey b Pat Cummins 0

A Ali c Alex Carey b Kane Richardson 5

H Ali c Usman Khawaja b Kane Richardson 32

W Riaz c Alex Carey b Mitchell Starc 45

M Amir b Mitchell Starc 0

S Afridi not out 1

Extras (lb4, nb1, w9) 14

Total (All out, 45.4 overs) 266

Fall: 1-2, 2-56, 3-136, 4-146, 5-147, 6-160, 7-200, 8-264, 9-265, 10-266

Bowling: P Cummins 10-0-33-3; Mitchell Starc 9-1-43-2; K Richardson 8.4-0-62-2; N Coulter-Nile 9-0-53-1; G Maxwell 7 -0-58-0 ; A Finch 2-0-13-1