Patterson leads Blues after Bancroft ton

Test batsman Kurtis Patterson has continued his amazing run of form with an unbeaten half-century to guide NSW to 3-188 at stumps on day two of their JLT Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia at Sydney's Bankstown Oval.

Coming in at first drop, Patterson (57no) built on a solid foundation provided by opening pair Daniel Hughes (30) and Nick Larkin (36), whose 62-run stand ate into the Warriors' first innings total of 279.

Hughes became debutant leg-spinner Liam O'Connor's first Shield wicket when he was caught by Joel Paris, and the tweaker had a second when he got through the defences of Moises Henriques, who was bowled for 30.

In between, Larkin was trapped lbw by a swinging Paris delivery, but Patterson remained solid until the close of play, finding strong support in rookie batsman Jason Sangha, who was not out 20 at stumps.

Earlier, Western Australia opener Cameron Bancroft carried his bat for an unbeaten hundred in his first red-ball outing since his nine-month ball-tampering suspension.

Bancroft scored 138 in a marathon 358-ball innings to almost single-handedly keep WA's innings together, as the visitors were dismissed just before lunch.

After batting through two elongated sessions on a rain-affected day one, Bancroft moved from his overnight 73 to bring up his 12th first-class century off 276 balls.

WA resumed at 5-183 on Sunday with debutant Brad Hope (eight) dismissed in the first over.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals before Bancroft picked up the scoring rate with the fall of the ninth wicket, hitting sixes off successive Steve O'Keefe deliveries.

Bancroft and Sam Whiteman (66) put on an opening stand of 119 on Saturday but only No.10 Liam Guthrie was able to join them in double figures.

It is the third time Bancroft has carried his bat at first-class level.

Bancroft returned to Twenty20 cricket in late December after his highly-publicised suspension ban for ball tampering during Australia's Test against South Africa in Cape Town last March.

Paceman Trent Copeland (4-81) and spinner O'Keefe (4-78) shared the wickets for NSW on day two.