Central Districts looked ready for the rack at 153-7 before lunch after losing five wickets for 20, but with little No 6 Bevan Griggs scoring a career-best 100 not out, Central ended with 295 for nine declared, a lead of 86 - and an indictment on the penetration of the visiting side’s bowling.

Griggs and Michael Mason added 47 for the eighth wicket, Griggs and Brent Hefford 37 for the ninth, and Griggs and Lance Hamilton an unbeaten 58 for the 10th and final. Considering that Hefford averaged eight last season and Hamilton just 7.44, the Indian bowlers should have done better.

Around 24 minutes of play were lost and tea taken after the players came off for a shower at 3.27pm with the score at 260-9.. Dark clouds around the Hawke’s Bay hills created a light problem, but Bevan Griggs and Lance Hamilton were back on at 4.12pm.

And Griggs bettered his previous first-class best of 76 in the second over after having cracked a boundary in the first. With the light improving, Central was chasing runs.

But Griggs rollicked his way into the 90s and the 50 partnership was reached without any trouble at all – taking the lead to 80 at the same time.. This forced the Indians to take the new ball through Ashish Nehra, a triumph in itself for the Central tail.

And Griggs did the trick, reaching his maiden century with a thick edge over second slip to the fence. The declaration came immediately at 295-9, with Griggs having faced 150 balls, in 213 minutes, with one six and 11 fours. At the other end Hamilton had soldiered on for 48 balls on his own in the unbeaten partnership of 58..

Central was teetering at 179-7 at lunch, but Griggs added 47 with Michael Mason (21) and 37 with Brent Hefford (9) as the Indian bowling was shown up for its lack of cutting teeth. When rain stopped play just before tea, Central was 260-9, leading by 51 runs.

Hefford, with a first-class average of eight, played straight for a long spell, facing 53 balls in total and 29 before he scored.

Griggs, battling to gain a Central Districts spot as a batsman because Martyn Sigley is preferred as keeper, reached his 50 in 10-1 balls, with six fours and a six. When rain finally hit at 3.27pm, Griggs was through to 71 not out, with eight fours.

He was just five runs short of his first-class best, 76 against Northern Districts in Hamilton last season. Certainly he’s done his immediate future the world of good.

And Lance Hamilton, with few pretensions as a batsman, was sticking firm with him.

The most successful of the Indian attack was fast-medium Ajit Agakar, seemingly underused in taking four wickets.Clearly a declaration is on the cards if the weather clears.

Under increasingly threatening skies, the Mason-Griggs partnership continued with some enthusiasm after lunch with Griggs dealing harshly to a couple of short-pitched deliveries from leftarmer Ashish Nehra.

The tall Mason was playing a competent hand against Harbhajan, waiting for the right ball to hit loftily over the legside, or push away behind square for ones and twos.

But eventully Harbhajan had the last say, courtesy of a well-judged catch from Johannan when Mason tried the lofted shot once too often. The partnership, though, had restored Central’s position somewhat, adding 47 runs with Griggs, and leaving Central nine runs adrift.

Brent Hefford joined Griggs as the Central innings tended to go back into sleep mode. Griggs is playing for a permanent spot in the Central lineup as a batsman rather than a keeper-batsman, and he showed little inclination to play risky shots, except for one slog-sweep for six.off Harhhajan which took Central to a first innings advantage.

There were just 11 runs in seven overs around this point, including Griggs’ six. Thankfully Hefford broke his 29-ball drought by pushing a Harbhajan no-ball for three.

After Craig Spearman (58) and Matthew Sinclair (52) both rather needlessly gave their wickets away when well set, Central Districts capitulated to 179-7 from 133-3 in its chase of India’s 209.

Author of their demise was the fast-medium Aji Agarkar, who came in late to grab Sinclair with his first ball and then picked up Martyn Sigley (1) and Andrew Schwass (0) in three balls. His five-over spell netted him 3-9.

This was how the collapse started.

Drinks has always been a good change bowler, and it can add Matthew Sinclair’s name to its list of successes.

After appearing to have the Indian bowling’s measure leading up to first session drinks, Sinclair (52) tried to swat Agarkar’s very first ball afterwards, and succeeded only in putting it into Harbhajan Singh’s hands at cover.

It was a loose shot, and Sinclair the second Central batsman to donate his wicket. That started the rout.

That wicket fell at 133, and Glenn Sulzberger followed two runs later, caught at slip for eight off Sanjay Bangar.

That brought two inexperienced batsmen in Jamie How and Bevan Griggs together, with Central’s progess stumbling at 135 for four. The youngsters had some moments of comfort before finally skipper Sourav Ganguly introduced offspinner Harbhajan in the 22nd over of the day.

And to what effect! The very first ball had How shouldering arms, hit on the front pad and given leg before by umpire Billy Bowden with the score at 152. Then Martyn Sigley pushed forward at Agarkar and this time umpire Doug Cowie gave him out.

Two balls later Andrew Schwass made a mess of defending a short one from Agarkar and gloved it to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel to have Central teetering at 153-7..

So the wickets continued to fall and the innings was starting to break apart. It’s just as well there was some action, because it wasn’t coming from the Indian over rate – the first 40 overs coming at 12.2 an hour. Michael Mason (17) and Bevan Griggs (17) were battling hard at lunch.

Earlier Spearman settled in nicely, rather better than a scratchy Matthew Sinclair, and reached his 50 in the day’s fifth over, following a boundary to fine leg with a short single.

Spearman, just back from a successful season with Gloucestershire, had batted101 minutes, faced 59 balls and hit eight boundaries on a slow outfield.

The Indian attack of Tinu Johannan and Ashish Nehru was certainly finding the wicket less amiable than yesterday’s bowlers, and Central added a no-nonsense 17 runs in the first 30 minutes without many problems.

Sinclair raised the 100 with a clipped two behind square leg, and it had taken just 25.5 overs, a rate of just a tick under four runs an over. Sinclair celebrated with his best shot of the day, an off-driven four from Nehra.

It was all looking a bit easy. But cricket being cricket, and Spearman being Spearman, things were about to change. Johannan tried to change things by going around the wicket and dropping the ball short, but Spearman pulled him for four.

The next ball was pitched up, Spearman (faultless until now), launched into a drive and Johannan had the caught and bowled.

Spearman took just 70 balls for his 58, with nine well-struck boundaries, and the partnership with Sinclair netted 92 runs.

Glenn Sulzberger replaced him, with Sanjay Bangar taking over from Nehra after a five-over spell which cost 24 runs and offered not a lot of hope. That produced two sparkling Sinclair boundaries, one square on the legside and the second straight-driven. Then he despatched Johannan through the covers to reach his 50,m taking 79 balls and including nine boundaries.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly will lead a side into the field against Central that will certainly be more motivated than it appeared yesterday when the home side rolled the tourists for 209 on a wicket that seamed in the first half of the day but dried out after that.

Only Ganguly himself (48) and Sachin Tendulkar (44) looked in reasonable nick, but both were out to careless shots maybe caused by tiredness – the Indians still complaining they are suffering from jetlag from their journey to New Zealand.

The key to keeping Central to a reasonable total (69-1 overnight) appears to lie with offspinner Harbhajan Singh, who turned a couple of balls quickly in the day’s final over and will have a big workload today against a batting lineup relying very much on the two batsmen at the crease – Craig Spearman (40) and Matthew Sinclair (17).

Outside of him and the outswiunger Aji Agarkar, the Indian attack did not look potent yesterday.

The Indians will be looking to dismiss Central reasonably quickly and then have a good, long bat on a wicket that will have lost its seam movement, but was likely to play lower, especially at the southern end.

Play starts in sunny conditions with the day aiming to get to 26deg, with the likelihood of a thunderstorm or two later in the day. Sunday’s finl day is also likely to be affected by the weather, with a cooling southerly change expected later in the day.