WATCH : David Warner saved by no-ball on 99 before scoring his 21st century

WATCH : David Warner saved by no-ball on 99 before scoring his 21st century

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For David Warner, MCG has not been a happy hunting ground, and today, in the Boxing day Test, he was all set to add another agony to his Boxing Daay travails. However, lady luck smiled at the NSW man as he was saved by a Tom Curran no-ball after playing a pull shot to the hands of the mid-on at 99.

Warner’s innings today was as fluent as a typical Warner inning could be, but once the opener reached the 90-run mark, he had to labour his way through to complete his Test century. His lack of confidence in the nervous nineties clearly shown when at 99, England debutant Tom Curran extracted a leading edge off Warner's bat that found Stuart Broad at mid-on to seemingly give Curran his first Test wicket.

Warner looked dejected and the opening batsman started walking off the ground with England players celebrating Curran's memorable wicket. However, the umpire decided to check for a front-foot no-ball and the replays were sufficient to frustrate the English team and fans to the limit. It showed that the right-arm pacer had marginally over-stepped the front line and Kumar Dharmasena held out his right arm to confirm the no-ball. 

Seeing that, the southpaw returned to the crease and took full advantage of the life, nudging the next ball onto the leg-side for a single to bring up three figures and celebrated the century with his typical style, removing his helmet and leaping in the air to greet the MCG crowd.

Co-incidentally, this was the second time in 12 months that the Australian opener has been dismissed on a no-ball before scoring a century at the MCG.

Last year, in the same Boxing Day Test against Pakistan, Warner was bowled by Wahab Riaz on 81 before replays showed the pacer had over-stepped. He took the benefit of that gift and went on to amass 144 runs.

The incident also brought back the memories of Adelaide Ashes Test four years ago when Ben Stokes secured his maiden Test wicket in the form of Brad Haddin, but later he was denied when replays showed he had overstepped. With the incident today, Curran also became the third England bowler since 2013 to be denied his maiden Test wicket by a no-ball, joining Stokes and Mark Wood (against New Zealand in 2015). 

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