Hawke's Bay batsman Jesse Ryder gave another demonstration of his batting worth when scoring 181 for the New Zealand Academy on day two of their three-day match with the Australian Academy at Townsville yesterday.

Academies from the two countries and South Africa are taking part in a special series of games over the next fortnight.

Ryder, a key member of the New Zealand Under-19 team at the ICC Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, played a much more sedate role than the hard-hitting demonstrations he gave then.

He faced 299 balls during his innings and hit 27 fours and one six.

Australia batted first and lost three wickets quickly. Kyle Mills had an especially welcome return when taking a wicket with his first ball, courtesy of a leg before wicket decision. Australia were 56/4.

Australia's response was led by Liam Buchanan, who took 16 from off-spinner Jeetan Patel's first three deliveries and by lunch they were 70/4 off 23 overs.

Buchanan and Mark Cosgrove increased the momentum of the innings with Buchanan's half century coming off 43 balls. He added 102 runs with Cosgrove and went on to score his century off only 92 balls with some fine shots in front of the wicket and some severe pull shots.

However, when on 109 he chased a wider ball from Joseph Yovich and edged it to Ryder in the slips.

Patel came back into his own once Buchanan was out and had the wicket of Beau Casson for 12. Australia eventually declared at 325/8.

James McMillan took three for 74, and Mills two for 58. New Zealand's over rate was very slow and there were problems with no-balling.

New Zealand suffered a setback when Shanan Stewart was dismissed off the first ball of the innings and when play was abandoned early due to shadows on the pitch, New Zealand were 15/1.

Due to the slow over rate of the first day, play started 30 minutes early on the second day. Jordan Sheed was the first wicket to fall when the score was 57. However, opener Ryder contained his usual aggression and produced an outstanding display of his potential. His 50 came up in 129 minutes off 105 balls. As he and Rob Nicol combined in a fine second wicket stand of 190, they took full toll of the tiring Australian attack.

Ryder's century was scored in 246 minutes off 199 balls while Nicol's half-century took 114 minutes off 101 balls. Nicol was first out for 78 just before the tea break.

However, while Ryder continued to build his innings, the incoming batsmen were too keen to get on with the job and when play finished on the day New Zealand were 348/7. Brett Geeves took three for 55 and Aaron Bird three for 29 for Australia.

© CricInfo