Veteran opener David Warner hammered a gritty 164 to silence the critics and steer Australia to 346-5 against an inconsistent Pakistan attack in the first Test at Perth on Thursday.

The 37-year-old batted for much of day one before finally departing to Aamer Jamal, two balls after smashing the debutant for six.

“In my first spell, I couldn’t find my rhythm. In my second spell, I felt better. Later, I spoke to the captain and wanted another spell. We planned for both of them [Warner and Head] with short balls, and that helped us succeed. Head was playing the cut shot well, so it was our plan to have the (catching) fielder outside the circle. He was playing the shot even if it wasn’t that short, so that’s how we got him out,” Jamal said in the post-day press conference.

But until Jamal struck, they had no answer to a near-flawless Warner who smashed 16 fours and four sixes in a majestic 211-ball innings.

After Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat, Warner took a confident single off his first ball in an opening over from Shaheen Shah Afridi that leaked 14 runs and never looked back.

“It’s been a long few months for Shaheen [Afridi] as well, he’s bowled a lot in the World Cup. You’ve got to try to apply pressure to their senior bowler in the first Test match. The chit chat is just normal stuff – there’s nothing. He’s not trying to get under my skin or anything, it’s just normal banter,” Warner said in the post-day press conference.

On a pitch offering bounce, he quickly settled in to bring up his half-century off just 41 balls with a boundary from Faheem Ashraf.

His strike rate slowed after lunch as he moved towards a 26th Test ton, reaching three figures with an uppercut boundary off Jamal, celebrating with his trademark leap and soaking in the applause.

It was his first century since a battling 200 against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground a year ago.

“It’s my job to come out here and score runs, that was from the get-go to put pressure on the Pakistani bowlers,” Warner said.

“There’s going to be criticism but you’ve got to take that. There’s no better way to silence them (than) by putting runs on the board,” he added.

He was dropped by Khurram Shahzad soon after bringing up his milestone but was otherwise in command until Jamal tempted him with a short ball and he was caught near the ropes by Imam-ul-Haq.

Khawaja, wearing a black armband in solidarity with the people of Gaza, was happy to play second fiddle in a 126-run opening stand.

He had a massive let-off on 25 when dropped by Abdullah Shafique but departed when Pakistan’s bowlers picked up their game after lunch, caught by wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed off Afridi’s bowling.

Labuschagne looked in good nick, racing to 16 when he was beaten by a ball pitched up by Ashraf and given out lbw.

Smith clattered a four through midwicket off his second ball to signal his intent but, after effortlessly making 31, he was deceived by a delivery from Shahzad and got a faint edge to the diving Ahmed. It was a maiden Test wicket for the debutant.

Head cashed in with a quick 40 before top-edging straight to Agha Salman, ensuring Jamal too earned a first Test wicket to end a trying day as the best of the bowlers with 2-63.

“I loved the experience of playing here. I’ve been to Australia in 2017 where I played in Sydney. Playing in Australia against Australia is always challenging but I think we were good enough. Both bowlers are bowling well with the second new ball. We’re planning to get them out in the first hour tomorrow morning. Both batsmen are playing their shots so if they’re doing that, we might get them early on,” Jamal added.