Honours evenly shared on first day

Honours were evenly shared on the first day's play of the provincial A cricket match between Central Districts and Wellington played at a sunny Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton yesterday.
Batting first on a pitch which gave some early assistance to the bowlers Central Districts started badly with Wairarapa opener Sam Curtis edging the very first ball he faced to second slip where the catch was safely taken.
The morning session saw the Wellington bowlers continue to dominate the action with three further wickets falling quickly but Central Districts staged an excellent rearguard action to reach a respectable 285 before the last wicket fell.
It was James de Terte who provided the individual highlight of the Central Districts batting effort. He scored a brilliant 117 in a knock which included several searing drives through the cover region and well-executed cuts and hooks. Other handy contributions came from Taiaroa (44) and Cunningham (19).
Wairarapa pace bowler Seth Rance was a late addition to the Central Districts side after an original selection cried off through injury and after striking a four with his first scoring shot he was finally out for seven.
The Wellington attack was spearheaded by Cornish who picked up 4-61 and impressed with his sustained accuracy.
Wellington also lost an early wicket when their first innings commenced but that was to be the only success for the Central Districts bowlers before stumps with Wellington's total sitting at 51-1 at that stage.
Rance had a brief spell late in the day and did well to restrict the scoring by maintaining a good line and length
The match continued today and will end tomorrow.