Cricket: Fulton dominates with quick 154

Canterbury captain Peter Fulton had not pre-planned his assault on the Central Districts bowling at the Village Green in Christchurch yesterday.

But when he realised a century before lunch was possible, he set about achieving it.

Fulton became only the fifth Canterbury player to reach three figures in a morning session, going on to make a dominating 154 of Canterbury's 342 for eight wickets on the first day of the four-day State Championship match.

"Nothing was planned. I was just trying to get us off to a good start," said Fulton, who was at the crease by the third over after the early dismissal of opener Michael Papps.

"It was one of those days for me, really. I got a few in the middle of the bat and was away."

Fulton raised his century from the 99th ball he faced, in 117 minutes. His second half-century took only 48 minutes and 33 balls.

Tim McIntosh enjoyed the best view of Fulton in full flight, while contributing just 14 to their 97-run partnership for the second wicket.

Those to previously score pre-lunch centuries for Canterbury were Jack Powell (v Otago in 1929-30), Brun Smith (v Auckland in 1948-49), Sam Guillen (v Fiji in 1953-54) and Dave Dempsey (v Otago in 1980-81).

The pace slowed in the second session, particularly after Shanan Stewart's highly promising innings of 35 was ended by a run-out off the bowler's hand.

But Fulton continued to make steady progress before being caught at deep fine-leg. He faced 187 balls in 212 minutes for his 154. In the same period five team-mates totalled 67 between them.

An outright win would put Canterbury back into contention for the five-day final in April.

But Fulton's magnificent display, laced with 30 fours and one six, did not disguise another disjointed top-order batting effort.

Papps and McIntosh fell to gully catches, Stewart was distinctly unlucky and Gary Stead and Neil Broom failed to build on promising foundations.

It was left to Andrew Ellis and Paul Wiseman to ensure Canterbury finished the day with a respectable scoreline.

Both fell just short of half-centuries, Ellis extracting his 43 from 120 balls and Wiseman making brisk progress to his 46 off 62 balls.

* In Gisborne, Otago will be hoping Gareth Hopkins and Bradley Scott can kick on to put Northern Districts on the backfoot today.

Hopkins (60) and Scott (19) were the not out batsmen when stumps were drawn yesterday, with Otago reaching 320 for seven in their first innings.

Mark Orchard was the best of the Northern bowlers, taking three for 42 in 22.4 overs.

- NZPA