Veteran Australia opener David Warner has broken through for his first Test century in almost three years, bringing up the milestone in his 100th match.

The 36-year-old reached three figures for the first time since January 2020 just after lunch on day two of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at the MCG.

Warner has been under immense pressure after entering the final Test of the year averaging just 20.61 from 10 matches in 2022.

But being just the 14th Australian to play 100 Tests has brought out the best in the aggressive left-hander, who raced towards his 25th century in the format.

Warner has become the 10th player in history to score a ton in his 100th Test match and only the second Australian after Ricky Ponting smashed dual centuries in 2006.

The last player to bring up three figures in their 100th Test was England star Joe Root against India in February, 2021.

Warner’s innings was full of his trademark powerful shots but he didn’t have it all his own way, suffering a blow to his hand through a speedy delivery from fiery Proteas quick Anrich Nortje.

The decline in Warner’s form had been so sharp he had failed to pass 50 since the third Test against Pakistan in Lahore in March.

Warner has hinted about retiring from Tests in the near future but is desperate to be part of blockbuster tours of India and England next year.

Adding to Warner’s recent woes ahead of this match is the fact he has been dealing with the ongoing fallout from Sandpapergate.

Earlier this month, he withdrew an appeal against the lifetime leadership ban Cricket Australia’s imposed on him, and spoke of his anger about the process ahead of the Adelaide Test against West Indies.

Warner on Saturday conceded his mental health was impacted by the process and fired another shot at CA, saying they gave him no support at the start of the summer.

His wife Candice was ecstatic he had been able to silence the doubters.

“You’d think by now writing David off is probably the wrong thing to do, he thrives on that,” she told Fox Cricket.

“It’s been an incredibly tough period and people don’t take those things into consideration.

“It hasn’t been easy but he never uses that as an excuse.”

CENTURIES IN 100TH TEST

• Colin Cowdrey (Eng) 104 v Australia, 1968
• Javed Miandad (Pak) 145 v India, 1989
• Gordon Greenidge (WI) 149 v England, 1990
• Alec Stewart (Eng) 105 v West Indies, 2000
• Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) 184 v India, 2005
• Ricky Ponting (Aus) 120 and 143* v South Africa, 2006
• Graeme Smith (SA) 131 v England, 2012
• Hashim Amla (SA) 134 v Sri Lanka, 2017
• Joe Root (Eng) 218 v India, 2021
• David Warner (Aus) — v South Africa, 2022