Will O'Donnell, Gus McKenzie and Dale Phillips were the best performers on the opening day of the domestic cricket season.
O'Donnell's Auckland, McKenzie's Canterbury and Phillips' Otago all recorded comfortable wins as the summer of cricket got underway with the first round of the 50-over Ford Trophy competition on Sunday.
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O'Donnell scored the season's first century, with a new one-day career-high 115 for his second List-A ton in the Aces' 39-run victory over Central Districts at New Plymouth's Pukekura Park.
Coming in at first-drop, the 27-year-old right-hander batted from the sixth over to the 49th, striking nine fours and four sixes in his 132-ball and more than three-hour stay at the crease.
He shared a 98-run partnership with No 4 batsman Michael Schlanders (40 from 52) and helped guide Auckland through to 244-6 from their 50 overs. He was Black Caps paceman Blair Tickner's fourth victim.
In response, Central lost early wickets to Danru Ferns (2-22 from seven overs), before opener Curtis Heaphy (31 from 69), Tom Bruce (73 from 65) and Will Clark (45 from 46) attempted to resurrect the innings.
Former Black Cap Jimmy Neesham (4-32 from nine) took care of the middle order and Adithya Ashok (2-38 from 10) the lower order, as CD were dismissed for 205 in the 46th over.
Black Caps fast bowler Lockie Ferguson, who was unwanted for New Zealand's test matches against Sri Lanka and India, claimed the wicket of Clark to end the match.
At the Basin Reserve in Wellington, McKenzie took the first five-wicket bag of the season, finishing with figures of 5-14 from 8.2 overs as Canterbury rolled to a six-wicket victory over the Firebirds.
After Wellington had made a decent start, McKenzie knocked the top of their lineup off, with three quick wickets to reduce the hosts to 68-4. Zac Foulkes (3-24 from seven) also did damage, with the pair taking wickets regularly as Wellington were all out for 129 in the 41st over.
Canterbury were never in danger during the chase, with Black Caps one-day opener Chad Bowes (48 from 49) and Matt Boyle (45 from 34) each hitting seven fours to get the visitors home in the 23rd over.
At Whangarei's Cobham Oval, opener Phillips scored 89 from 109 balls, including eight fours and a six as the Volts posted 316-9 in their 50 overs against Northern Districts.
Phillips and Leo Carter (53 from 58) added 119 runs for the fourth wicket, and were aided by starts from Llew Johnson (39 from 38), Luke Georgeson (40 from 23, including four fours and two sixes) and Max Chu (32 from 29) to put up the biggest total of the day.
Black Caps paceman Scott Kuggeleijn took 4-50 from 10 and Scott Johnston an expensive 3-62 from nine for the Knights.
Northern's chase was always in trouble as wickets fell with regularity, with opener F Lellman top-scoring with 33 from 43, including six fours. Michael Bacon took 3-20 from six, Dean Foxcroft 3-36 from 8.4, Andrew Hazeldine 2-24 from 10 and Ben Lockrose 2-18 from six.
The second round on Wednesday sees Canterbury host Otago at Christchurch's Hagley Oval, Auckland play Wellington at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, and Norther Districts head to New Plymouth to take on Central Districts. All matches start at 10.30am.