His maiden first class century came in his 50th match on a tour to Australia in December 1967, 3 years after his debut, when he scored 125 in a drawn match against Queensland. His best first class bowling performance was 7 - 65 (match analysis 11 - 91) against an Australian touring side in March 1967 at New Plymouth. Appointed captain of Central Districts in 1967 when he was just 22, he led them to two Plunket Shield championships in two out of the next three seasons before moving to Canterbury in order to pursue his college teaching studies. He initially captained the Canterbury side until he missed a number of matches over the following two seasons due to his reluctance to play on a Sunday, because he was a lay preacher and playing on that day conflicted with his religious beliefs. This self-imposed restriction led him to forfeit any chance of the Test captaincy after he dropped out of the team to tour the West Indies in 1972 because several of the matches included Sunday play.