Wellington, Feb 26 NZPA - Opener Jeet Raval fell four runs short of his third first class century in only six matches, as Auckland cruised to 201 for one on the second day of their Plunket Shield cricket match against Wellington in Auckland today.

In tandem with Tim McIntosh, who finished the day unbeaten on 85, Raval put on 169 for the first wicket and left Auckland well-placed to chase down Wellington's first innings 477 all out.

Wellington resumed this morning on 278 for four, with middle-order pair Luke Woodcock and Stewart Rhodes both on 74.

The pair came together with the total at 156 yesterday, and put on 163 for the fifth wicket, before Woodcock departed for 97, edging Michael Bates to Reece Young behind the stumps with the total on 319.

Rhodes, in just his third first class match, carried on to construct a well-paced 124 off 196 balls, his knock including 13 fours and a solitary six.

For Auckland, George Shaw picked up his third top-level five-wicket haul, removing five of Wellington's top seven batsmen for 101 runs.