Perth [Australia], Dec 12 : Marnus Labuschagne’s century leads Australia to 248/4 at stumps on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand on Thursday.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first in front of the home crowd. David Warner and Joe Burns built an opening stand of 40-run. Burns departed after nine runs. He was caught in front of the wickets by Colin de Grandhomme.
Labuschagne and Warner added 35 runs for the second wicket before the latter was sent back to the pavilion by pacer Neil Wagner. Warner played a 43 runs innings.
Steve Smith and Labuschagne together built the longest partnership of the day of 132-run for the third wicket. Meanwhile, Australia went past the 200-run mark. Smith was caught at leg gully by Tim Southee off Wagner. He added 43 runs.
Matthew Wade played a brief knock of 12 runs and was bowled by Southee.
Labuschagne and Travis Head are unbeaten at 110 and 20 runs respectively. Labuschagne becomes just the third Australian number three batsman to score centuries in three consecutive Test innings. The other two were Charles Macartney (1926) and Don Bradman (1937-38).
For New Zealand, Neil Wagner bagged two wickets while Southee and Grandhomme picked one each.
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