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Unheralded NSW youngster Peter Forrest carved out an enterprising 177 to put the competition pace-setters firmly on top in their Pura Cup match against Tasmania at the SCG.
All eyes were meant to be on teenage debutant Phillip Hughes (51) today but it was Forrest that scored his maiden first class hundred and then some.
In just his fifth four-day outing, Forrest had all the answers against the reigning four-day champions as the Blues finished at 5-360 at stumps with Brad Haddin (55no) and Grant Lambert (0no) unbeaten.
With the sounds from construction ringing out where the old Doug Walters Stand used to be, Forrest, 22, built NSW a rock-solid foundation in his six-hour, 246-ball knock.
The right-hander from the Hawkesbury club on Sydney’s north-west fringe had plenty of assistance from skipper Simon Katich (51), Hughes and Haddin and the Tigers tried just about everything to remove Forrest.
That included a watered-down version of leg theory on the right-hander with Tasmania’s fast bowlers aiming short-pitched deliveries at his body with four leg-side fieldsmen hovering at times within a vicinity of 15 metres from the bat.
But while he looked uncomfortable at times, he couldn’t be budged until just before stumps.
He nearly came undone on 74 but his mishit off Jason Krejza’s bowling fell just out of reach of the fielders and he was chanceless in an innings that included 25 fours and two sixes.
Forrest had reached 90 by the tea break and squirted a single on the off side just after the break to reach triple figures.
He celebrated jubilantly by running towards the dressing room and swinging his bat in celebration.
Katich earlier won the toss in fine conditions and opted to bat with aspiring Test paceman Ben Hilfenhaus (2-90) picking up Ed Cowan (2) in the third over of the day.
That left the inexperienced pairing of Hughes and Forrest at the crease and they justified the confidence shown in them by putting on a largely untroubled century stand.
That ended when Hughes chased a wide ball from former Blues off-spinner Krejza and lobbed it gently to point.
Katich carried his sizzling form into the match, cruising to fifty before he slashed at a wide Luke Butterworth delivery to Michael Di Venuto, the veteran taking a fine low catch at gully.
Dominic Thornely (8) failed to make double figures before he miscued an attempted pull shot for Hilfenhaus’s second scalp.
Haddin had a life on 25 late on a forgettable day for the visitors when he was dropped in the deep by Butterworth.
Forrest was finally felled just before stumps, former Sydneysider Brendan Drew trapping him in front.
It is the first time the two sides have met in a Pura Cup match since last summer’s final in which Tasmania captured their first four-day domestic title.
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