Jesse Ryder completed a remarkable comeback from a seven-month cricketing hiatus by notching his 14th first-class century at Wellington's Basin Reserve today.

Ryder raised three figures for his new team Otago just before lunch on day two of the Plunket Shield match against Wellington, with a boundary off his former team-mate Andy McKay.



He was dismissed soon afterwards by McKay for 117, caught by Wellington skipper James Franklin, as batsmen dominated the first two days.



At stumps on day two, Wellington were 217-2 in reply to Otago's mammoth first innings of 534-9 declared. Stephen Murdoch was 82 not out for Wellington, and bidding to become the fourth centurion of the match after Ryder and Otago team-mates Aaron Redmond (154) and Michael Bracewell (107).



The left-handed Ryder, who resumed today on 48 not out, raised the century milestone off 151 balls, including 19 fours.



It was the 29-year-old's first competitive match since March, when he suffered a serious assault outside a Christchurch bar, then was suspended for six months for testing positive to a banned substance contained in weight loss pills.



The ban only ended last week and Ryder announced his intention to force his way back into the Black Caps team, having played his last international in February 2012.



Ryder has 18 tests, 39 ODIs and 18 T20 internationals to his name since making his international debut in February 2008.