KEY POINTS:
Iain O'Brien's five-wicket haul has put Wellington in the driver's seat on the first day of their State Championship four-day cricket match against Auckland at QE2 Park in Christchurch yesterday.
At stumps, Wellington were two for no wicket in reply to Auckland's first innings of 245 all out after they won the toss and chose to bat.
O'Brien, who conceded 57 runs off 23 overs, started his demolition job by removing prolific Auckland opener Tim McIntosh for nine, with just 24 runs on the board. Four runs later, he trapped Martin Guptill lbw for a duck.
Kyle Mills (16), Reece Young (7) and Lance Shaw (1) also fell to the medium-fast seamer.
Solid contributions from fellow bowlers Jeetan Patel and Mark Gillespie saw Auckland batters return to the pavilion at regular intervals.
Richard Jones contributed 62 runs while Rob Nicol fell to Gillespie 15 runs short of a century.
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Meanwhile, Mathew Sinclair added another milestone to his fluctuating career yesterday, crafting his 22nd first class hundred to give Central Districts the early ascendancy over Northern Districts at Lincoln's Bert Sutcliffe Oval.
At stumps on the first day of the four-day match, Central were 366 for five.
The two-time test double century-maker, overlooked for Black Caps test duty since 2004, issued a timely reminder to selectors ahead of next week's Sri Lankan series by spearheading Central's impressive start.
With opening berths up for grabs for the two-test series which starts in Christchurch on Thursday week, Sinclair pushed his claims by dominating Central's score.
Sinclair cracked a 189-ball hundred, albeit batting at first drop, before departing 18 balls later for 109, to give the Northern attack some reward.
The 31-year-old stroked 13 fours and clubbed a six during his stay which saw Central's score advance from 106 to 339 before he was snapped up by Daniel Flynn off Brad Amel nine overs from the close of play.
Central skipper Jamie How, who opened in New Zealand's last test against South Africa in April, also impressed, building a solid foundation with Geoff Barnett after winning the toss and opting to pad up.
How notched a neat 50 off 88 balls before he exited with the score on 106 while Barnett made 59.
Black Caps middle order contender Ross Taylor scored 47 in tandem with Sinclair leaving allrounder Jacob Oram as the only blemish - he was caught by James Marshall off Joseph Yovich for a five-ball duck.
Greg Hay was unbeaten on 62 at stumps with wicketkeeper Bevan Griggs (15). Spinner Bruce Martin took 2-72 off 28 overs while Daniel Vettori took 1-52 off 20.
- NZPA
