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Perth - Australia's bold new opening duo notched a historic third straight century partnership Friday as the hosts took early charge of the second Test against New Zealand on day one in Perth.
Already up 1-0 in the three-Test series after a commanding 208-run win in Brisbane, the hosts made the most of winning the toss with a bright start to their innings at the WACA Ground.
At lunch Australia were 105 for one, with David Warner on 60 and Usman Khawaja on two.
Openers Warner and Joe Burns (40) put on 101 for the first wicket -- their third century stand in as many innings together at the top of the order.
The feat matches Australia's great opening partnership of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, who also crafted three successive century stands in their first Test innings together in 2001.
However Burns, who replaced the retired Chris Rogers in the Australian side for this series, fell just minutes before lunch.
He chopped on a delivery from the recalled Matt Henry to give the suffering New Zealand bowlers a much-needed boost on a flat wicket that was failing to live up to pre-match predictions of extreme pace.
After all the talk about the pacy WACA wicket, there was little assistance for the bowlers, with a couple of genuine edges falling short of slips and the visitors down to just one in the cordon after an hour's play.
Burns survived a decision review after an appeal for lbw from the bowling of Tim Southee, declared fit after a back injury, was initially turned down when he was on 26.
Replays showed Burns inside-edged the ball into his pad.
Warner is aiming to become the first batsman to score three Test centuries at the WACA, and has 454 runs at 90.80 at the ground.
He's also on target to become just the fifth Test batsman to score four successive Test centuries against the same opponent.
