New Zealand Under-19 captain Brendon McCullum made a scintillating 186 to put his side in control in the Second Youth Test at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln today.

New Zealand's recovery from 72/6 and 106/7 mirrored South Africa's from 106/6 yesterday.

While the visitors eventually made 308 all out, the New Zealander's did even better to record 311, then leave South Africa 9/0 when they took an offer of the light with 17 overs left.

McCullum, after a 97-ball ton in the first Youth Test win at Alexandra last week, went one better to reach three figures in 96 balls this time on an auspicious day at the former BIL Oval near Christchurch.

The ground was today renamed after New Zealand great Bert Sutcliffe, and McCullum's batting did the 77 year old legend proud, striking 22 fours and three sixes in 172 balls, scored in just over four hours.

McCullum's competitive instincts and flawless style were demonstrated by the 18 he scored off one Imran Khan (not that one) over. He hit a "fantastic" six and three fours, to bring up the team 200 and his own century.

It took broken foot victim Johan Botha to dismiss him, caught in the deep by Craig Thysen. He was very disappointed, showing the pedigree of his father Stu, who, although he was only a little guy, fought like a bantam rooster on the field. Brendon (19) and brother Nathan (20) have followed their father into the Otago team, and both look set for big futures in the game.

Team coach Mark Greatbatch told CricInfo, "What a day's cricket it has been - bizarre."

On McCullum, he said, "I must admit it was one of the best innings I've seen from a young Under-19 player. It was exceptional how positively he played, because we were 70/6 and he made great decisions, continuing through for four hours. It was quite phenomenal, a wonderful achievement for his development as a player. After he got a hundred in the last game in three hours, now he's gone and batted over four hours and gone that extra. It's a fantastic as far as his development as a batter goes."

New Zealand Cricket High Performance Centre Director Dayle Hadlee described the innings as "absolutely sensational", adding, "have you seen batting like that before from a kid of that age? I think he is an outstanding prospect as a wicket-keeping all-rounder."

Earlier in the match South African Botha had scored a ton of his own yesterday, then took four wickets today, despite his injury that would only allow him to bowl in three over spells. His figures were 4-18 off 6.2 overs, with Thysen taking 4-79 off 18, having had 3-25 off seven overs at one stage, as New Zealand collapsed, losing five wickets for ten runs in 30 minutes before lunch.

Greatbatch blamed "poor decision making, and poor footwork" on a "pretty flat deck," for the problems.

So if Botha has been South Africa's star player, after missing the first Youth Test loss after injuring himself when warming up before a match against the Otago Under-19 team, there is no doubt Brendon McCullum is the name to remember from "an up and down day" at Lincoln.

"There's a big day in front ... we're having a debrief tonight." (incidentally at 8.30pm after Dayle Hadlee's favourite programme Coronation Street). "There's two days to play and we've got to discuss some of the areas we can improve on, to go forward for the next two days."

Bert Sutcliffe, who could not be at the ground which was renamed in his honour today said from his Auckland home, "I'm almost embarrassed now, but very proud." If he had been able to come the great man would have seen an innings he would be sure to have admired.

© CricInfo