Cricket: Fulton carries on where he left off for Canterbury

Peter Fulton scored his second century and passed 1000 first-class runs as Canterbury began their cricket season in encouraging form against Otago in Timaru yesterday.

After winning the toss for the State Championship match on what looked to be a batsman-friendly pitch, Canterbury ended the first day on 289 for seven, short of the dominant position they threatened to hold.

Three of their younger batsmen flourished, with Fulton scoring 114, Neil Broom 53 and Shanan Stewart 40.

There was nothing in the pitch in terms of movement, bounce or turn for the Otago bowlers.

Skipper Rob Lawson rotated his bowlers in short spells and that policy paid off as the wickets were chipped away.

Towards the close, the bowlers lost their length and allowed Paul Wiseman (18) and Warren Wisneski (12) - both unbeaten - the luxury of driving off the front foot.

Fulton was the star as he backed up from the 301 not out he scored against Auckland in March.

He scored his 114 runs in 260 minutes from 206 balls. His 50 came in 148 minutes and 112 balls, the 100 in 237 minutes and 187 balls.

"I went out to bat for as long as I could," he said. "I hadn't scored a lot of runs in the build up and it was not an easy wicket to play shots on straight away."

The triple century Fulton scored in March gave his career a huge boost.

"It made a huge difference to me, gave me a lot of confidence to know I could bat that long at this level," he said.

"To get that first hundred and a big one took the pressure off."

The only bowler who troubled Fulton was the left-armer David Sewell, who finished with figures of none for 73. He gave Fulton a torrid time when he was in the 60s.

He went past the outside edge with successive balls, a thick edge went to third man for four and another fell just short of Mohammad Wasim in the slips.

- NZPA