Cricket: Raval makes up for lost time

Jeet Raval finished last season with an even 100 against Central Districts at Napier, so was probably as surprised as anybody to see his name left off the team-sheet when the 2011-12 Plunket Shield spluttered into life.

Today he happily went about making a mockery of his exclusion from Auckland's opening two rounds with a cultured 120 not out, his fourth century at this level.

The Gujarati-born opener can look a bit awkward early _ many tall left-handers do _ but once established bats with the serenity of those blessed with time.

His century partnership with Bradley Cachopa (63 not out) was an exercise in perseverance. They finished the day at 240-3, 127 behind CD's first innings of 367.

Cachopa will start the day in search of his maiden first-class century. The 23-year-old looked all at sea against the pace of Adam Milne to begin with, but once Mathew Sinclair had dropped him on 21 he dug in for the long haul.

The few onlookers that watched Cachopa plug away admirably may have been reminded of his brother Carl, who was picked for Auckland based on his age-group promise and then melted away as he struggled to gain a foothold at first-class level.

He went to South Australia before returning to New Zealand, where he has reinvented himself as a medium-pace bowling allrounder at CD.

He picked up the first two Auckland wickets _ Tim McIntosh (15) and Andrew de Boorder (21) _ and his ``backyard'' battle with Bradley was intriguing. Chalk this one up as a points decision to Cachopa the younger.

It wasn't always pretty, but Auckland now have a chance to post a handy first innings lead and leave CD chasing the game.

Auckland's other alternative is to declare as soon as the 110-over bonus-point window closes in the expectation it will set up a last-day chase. With the wicket flat and the game not particularly well advanced, that would give CD and their tepid bowling attack the chance to get back into the match without earning the right.

Raval's was the second century of the day.

Earlier, Kieran Noema-Barnett nursed the CD tail in the morning to post a deserved maiden first-class century. A feared short-form player who has under-achieved in first-class cricket, CD will hope the maturity he showed in this knock will provide a springboard for further four-day success.

He eventually fell to Michael Bates, giving the left-armer four wickets _ a decent return on a pitch that harboured no demons.

Neil Wagner has provided many illustrations of what he can add to the New Zealand cricket team with the ball but today he provided an even more compelling case for why he should be selected when he plundered the Wellington attack.

The South African-born Wagner qualifies for New Zealand in April and will come into serious consideration for next year's tour of the West Indies. He claimed seven wickets in Wellington's first innings of 312, his sixth haul of five or more wickets for Otago, and followed it up with an innings of 66 not out in the Volts' innings of 242.

Otago were in considerable trouble at 165-6 when Wagner strode to the crease and in even worse shape soon after when the ninth wicket fell at 186. It gave him the licence to swing the bat and it came off as smacked four fours and seven sixes in his 43-ball innings.

He was left stranded on 66 not out when the last Otago wicket of James McMillan fell. The pair put on 56 for the final wicket but McMillan contributed only one.

Otago lost wickets too regularly to put the home side under any pressure and they will hope for more from their top order in their second dig considering they were 77-5 before Nathan McCullum (46), Derek de Boorder (47) and Wagner came to the rescue.

Discarded Black Cap Andy McKay (4-57) and Scott Kuggeleijn (3-74) were the pick of the Wellington bowlers and they were in a strong position at the end of the second day after (what happened in here).

Canterbury started the second day of their match against Northern Districts in a good position but couldn't take advantage and instead find themselves on the back foot in their match in Hamilton.

Starting the say at 97-4 in reply to Northern's 169, they were skittled for 151 with only Tom Latham (47) putting up any resistance. They lost their last six wickets for 22 runs to fall short of first innings points.

Brent Arnel picked up 5-43 for the competition leaders and then enjoyed watching his top order put Northern in a solid position at 234-2 at the end of the day's play, James Marshall ending the day on 83 not out and twin Hamish 55 not out.