The opening round of Plunket Shield cricket saw Central Districts youngin' Willem Ludick announce his arrival on to the domestic scene as a batsman, as well as Jeet Raval breaking his slump and the grizzly veteran Hamish Rutherford leading the way against an almighty Northern Districts bowling attack. Those three cracked hundies first up, plus there were a few lads who passed the half-century mark and caught my eye in the process.

We start with Ludick though and after pondering how CD would have to dive into their depth to start their season, Ludick showed why the Stags continue to dominate domestic cricket. Hitting 116* and batting at #7, Ludick led CD to a strong first innings total of 352/7dec before Canterbury and then CD declared without any action in the next two innings. With plenty of rain about, they were still able to play an intense final day via those sporting declarations and CD eventually took 10 wickets with Canterbury falling for 207 in pursuit of 353.

That flows back to Ludick's knock, as he bumped the Stags total up a few notches after Ross Taylor hit 75 and low key wicket-keeper extraordinaire Dane Cleaver scored 56. Another Stags youngster in Christian Leopard also passed 50, with 52 in conjunction with Ludick down the order. The star of the show however, was Ludick and the 21-year-old lad born in South Africa now has a slick batting innings to go with his 5w match on debut last summer.

Going back to that debut, Ludick had scores of 30 and 22, so we can safely assume that Ludick ain't finding domestic cricket all that difficult. He was solid with the ball as a fourth seamer for CD as they chased the 10w needed for a win and while Canterbury's batsmen were chillin', defending their honour; 10 overs for 2.30rpo from Ludick is solid.

I love that this came in the first game as well, a century in the first innings of the season. Coming into the season, Ludick was someone to keep an eye on and with the Stags needing to give fringe players more game time, I was eager to see how that would impact Ludick. In smacking a century (I'm not all that high on Canterbury's bowling attack though other than Matt Henry), Ludick is demanding your attention and we now await Ludick's response in the next game as consistency is always the key.

Over the winter, Jeet Raval's underground slump had me a wee bit concerned. 102 for Auckland in their only batting innings against Wellington, instantly wiped the slump away though and it should fill Raval with an abundance of confidence. That slump included multiple innings in Aotearoa - even a few Plunket Shield innings - so for Raval to come out of the gate, anchoring the first Aces innings of the season is exactly what Auckland, Raval and the Blackcaps needed.

The thing about Raval for Auckland, is that he's a leader in a young-ish Aces group; Michael Guptill-Bunce is Raval's opening partner and captain, plus Matt McEwan has been around the domestic circuit for a while and the arrival of spinner Will Somerville from Australia boosts the experience levels. Such a role for Raval should bring the best out of him and when you're leading by example with the willow, it's only going to put you in good spot ahead of a Blackcaps tour.

Raval's century came against Hamish Bennett, Iain McPeake, Logan van Beek, Jeetan Patel and Jimmy Neesham. Other than ND's inflated bowling attack, you could suggest that Wellington have the best bowling attack and Raval not only got some much needed time at the crease after a mediocre stint with Yorkshire, he got some reps against Patel; fine-tuning his work against spin which will be crucial in the United Arab Emirates vs Pakistan.

As I saw Hamish Rutherford hit 115 for Otago Volts against ND, I did wonder whether Rutherford could sniff around a Blackcaps mixer again. That remains to be seen, however Rutherford calmly fended off Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, after the Knights bowlers had steamed through Otago to dismiss them for 108 in the first innings - Otago also steamed through ND to roll them for 136.

But then Rutherford came out in the second dig and led Otago to set a competitive target of 204 for ND to chase, which they did. No batsman in this game faced more deliveries that Rutherford's 205 and while Rutherford was cruising, only two other Otago batsmen hit double figures; Shawn Hicks scored 47 and Christi Viljoen 33.

Rutherford is also a leader with the willow for Otago and while I am excited to follow another South African-born youngster in Hicks (batting #3) this season, Rutherford and his opening partner Brad Wilson need to score the bulk of Otago's runs. Wilson started with scores of 12 and 3, while Rutherford's other knock was a duck and with a fairly young middle order of Hicks, Mitch Renwick and Josh Finnie, the OGs up top have to put up at least one decent score between them each game.

There were also nine batsmen who registered half-centuries in their respective first games...

Michael Bracewell

53 vs Auckland in first innings. Good start for Bracewell, batting #4 with his former Otago homie Jimmy Neesham coming in at #5.

Jimmy Neesham

51 vs Auckland in first innings. Lovely. Great to see Neesham back.

Ross Taylor

75 vs Canterbury in first innings. Standard King Rossco.

Kane Williamson

83 vs Otago in second innings. Standard Prince Kane.

Robert O'Donnell

73 vs Wellington in first innings. Solid start for O'Donnell, who could kick on and make waves this summer after settling into the domestic circuit over the past two seasons.

Henry Cooper

66* vs Otago in second innings. Pay attention to Cooper, young opener for ND who held on to his spot despite all the Knights Blackcaps being in the mix sans Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner - maybe Mitchell Santner could have opened?

Trent Boult

61 vs Otago in first innings. Smacked it.

Dane Cleaver

56 vs Canterbury in first innings. Batting #5, perhaps likely to drop down a spot when Will Young and Tom Bruce return, making the most of his opportunity. Averages 40.27 in First Class cricket.

Christian Leopard

52 vs Canterbury in first innings. Leopard is 21yrs and averages 48.50 in FC cricket, only two games though. Leopard and Luddick have played a total of four FC games.

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Peace and love 27.