Internet Desk: Six years after being capped as a Test cricketer against Pakistan, Steve Smith peeled off his 16th century in elite company – and his first against the Asian nation – to put his team in charge of the inaugural day-night match at the Gabba.
Smith was the dominant figure on a day when Australia was rarely on the back foot and he will resume tomorrow afternoon unbeaten on 110 to continue his unbroken 137-run fourth-wicket partnership with newcomer Peter Handscomb (64 not out).
While the skipper stole the limelight under the floodlights, the performances of recently capped pair Handscomb and Matthew Renshaw (71 from his three-hour stay at the top of the order) further vindicated the revamp of Australia’s Test team.
With the Brisbane Test starting at 1pm rather than the traditional morning kick-off of the 58 that the venue had hosted across the previous 85 years Smith was already in unfamiliar territory, but he started match even more rarefied surroundings.
By winning the coin toss – an experience that had eluded him in six consecutive matches leading into this game – and exercising his option to bat first.
And had he been able to nominate a preferred end-of-day scoreline, then the 3-288 Australia posted from their 90 overs might well have represented the sort of output he envisaged.
With his own personal milestone, a 16th Test century achieved in a tricky final half-hour of the day when the new pink ball was doing what it is want to do under the full glare of floodlights, an added bonus flourish.
Granting him the honour of a century against every Test nation he has played against since making his debut at Lord’s in 2010.
Not that Smith’s innings was devoid of missteps.
On 35 he edged a fizzing leg break from Azhar Ali to keeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who promptly dropped the chance to the undisguised anguish of the bowler and a couple of teammates.
Then, having looked otherwise untroubled for a couple of hours as he progressed his total to 97, Smith was bamboozled by a delivery from Mohammed Amir with the second new ball.
Which seemed to swing in before veering away, and ended in Sarfraz’s gloves as the slips cordon threw back their heads in frustration.
Clearly of the view it had narrowly missed the edge of Smith’s bat, until hot spot evidence tendered on television replays indicated the faintest touch of ball on willow.
Which meant Smith was free to continue his quest for another century, an achievement that came six overs later when he punched Mohammed Amir to the mid-off fence and thrashed his bat in the air in exultation.
Pakistan’s woes appeared to have been compounded midway through that final session with the potential loss of their number one bowler.
It was reminiscent of what befell South Africa at the start of their ultimately triumphant Test tour here, when Dale Steyn fractured his right shoulder and was prematurely sent home to recuperate.
It was just 10 overs before the second new ball was due in his hands that Amir’s night looked to have come to an excruciating end, and Pakistan’s hopes for this series stung by a seismic jolt.
The 24-year-old, who returned to international cricket earlier this year after being hit with a five-year ban for his role in a spot-fixing scandal, went to make what should have been a routine save at deep backward square leg.
As the ball that Handscomb had nudged around the corner rolled towards him, Amir attempted to execute the now obligatory sliding save only for his right knee to stick fast in the Gabba turf.
Almost directly in front of the section where seating has been removed and a new outdoor deck with swimming pool installed.
As the paddlers roared derisively and the ball trickled over the boundary rope, unimpeded by the failed fielding attempt, Amir buckled in his attempt to stand and clutched his damaged knee in agony.
Parallels were immediately drawn with the serious knee injury that England fast bowler Simon Jones sustained in similar circumstances, albeit on the opposite flank of the Gabba, during the 2002 Ashes Test.
And which cost him more than a year of international cricket for England.
The initial prognosis from within the tourists’ dressing room was that the damage was not structural and he returned to the field, albeit with a notable limp, less than six overs later.
But given the lack of opportunities the Pakistan had managed to create on the series’ opening day, any reduction in the strike power of their most potent threat could prove decisive.
With the five overs he sent down after returning to field from treatment late in the evening session suggesting there would be no long-term impact from the incident.
It was Amir who had made the initial breakthrough, in the 24th over when he trapped Warner lbw after the Australia opener got too far across his stumps and was adjudged to be in front of leg peg.
A verdict that the vice-captain briefly considered challenging but, in consultation with his much junior partner Renshaw opted against it.
Until that point, it was leg-spinner Yasir Shah who had appeared most threatening after the three-pronged pace attack of Amir, Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz had found hints of swing.
However, they were unable to maintain the disciplined line and consistent lengths that had been such a feature of South Africa’s seamers in their 2-1 series win.
The fact that the first five scoring shots of Australia’s innings were boundaries, at the rate of one per over, summed up the visitors’ inability to build consistent pressure on their opponents.
It was not surprising that Yasir claimed the second breakthrough, although Usman Khwaja’s languid flick into the bread basket of Misbah-ul-Haq at short mid-wicket was more to blame than any overt genius from the bowler.
It meant Smith faced the sort of situation that had come to plague his team during their run of five consecutive losses to Sri Lanka and South Africa, the loss of wickets in quick succession.
But this time, after Warner and Khawaja fell in the space of seven deliveries, the captain was able to stem the bleeding with the assistance of a pair of new hands who carry no scars from the summer’s earlier failures.
And the only wicket of the middle session came after Wahab managed, for one of the few times during the day, to repeatedly challenge Renshaw around off stump and was rewarded with an edge through to the keeper.
The more significant chance presented itself an hour later when Azhar Ali’s occasional leg spin should have seen Smith on his way.
But the squandered opportunity that could have radically altered the script at the outset of the series came to emblematically tell the tale of the opening day.