Masterful Moises Henriques century puts New South Wales in control

A classy century from Moises Henriques helped defending champions New South Wales to a strong position on the opening day of their Sheffield Shield campaign against Western Australia.

He added an unbroken 191 for the fourth wicket with Daniel Solway after New South Wales had slipped to 3 for 71 on the stroke of lunch.

Henriques' 11th first-class hundred was a superbly constructed and virtually faultless display from the moment he walked in with his team having lost two quick wickets to a brace of top edges after a solid opening stand.

It was a continuation of the form he showed last season, where he scored two Shield hundreds and averaged 51.20, as he brought up his century from 149 balls with a sweep off Ashton Agar.

Solway also picked up from where he left off last summer during which he was the breakout batting start for New South Wales with 498 runs 55.33. His ability to wear the bowlers down was a standout feature and one that was on display in this innings with a half century off 183 balls.

After being put into bat the New South Wales' openers, Daniel Hughes and Nick Larkin, made steady progress through the first hour before Larkin top-edged Liam Guthrie to long leg. Kurtis Patterson followed in very similar fashion three overs later against Cameron Gannon and when Hughes edged to slip three wickets had fallen for 17 runs.

Henriques was positive from the outset with a brace of boundaries off Gannon and was 30 off 37 balls before becoming a little more becalmed during an afternoon session of consolidation with Solway that brought 70 runs in 32 overs.

During the evening session he upped the tempo with a six off Aaron Hardie and moved into the 90s with a bunt over mid-on against Guthrie, but never took any undue risks on a surface that looked primed for a big total once batsmen got settled.

The Western Australia attack toiled hard with little on offer, Agar doing a good holding role as he went for under two an over, but they had nothing to show for it in the second two sessions.