All the ingredients were present to make the day a special one for Cairns.

``It was a home crowd; my 100th one-day game for New Zealand; we won the game to square the series; and Mum and Dad and a lot of friends and relatives were in the crowd,'' said Cairns at a post-match press conference yesterday.

``It was a feeling that is hard to explain. ``

Cairns has scored Shell Cup hundreds at the park, but Tuesday's effort was his first hundred for New Zealand at Jade Stadium. ``I love playing there and it was nice to score the 100 in that environment and to be able to share the moment with so many people.''

Originally it was thought he had scored the fifth fastest one-day hundred, but yesterday it was discovered Javed Miandad (Pakistan) 69 balls, and Zaheer Abbas (Pakistan), Viv Richards (West Indies) and Kapil Dev (India) 72 balls, had also scored faster hundreds than Cairns's (75 balls).

Celebrations were muted after the match. ``We had a few but we have such a heavy schedule ahead that we need to keep focused on what's coming up -- three tests and six one-dayers against South Africa.''

Cairns said he felt he was coming to terms with his role as the No. 5 batsman in the team.

``Batting five means you sometimes get in the situation where you need to build a bit more and then look to launch.

``In Napier and Auckland I'd done the hard work and just started to launch and it didn't work. Yesterday it did. I guess it was my day.''

Cairns said he was brought back to earth when he bowled at the start of the Indian innings.

``I was disappointed I couldn't get the side off to a better start with my bowling. I wasn't as intensive as I could have been, but the last couple of overs were a lot better.'' Cairns said he did not ``feel anything'' when the Indians made a concerted appeal for caught behind when he was on 51.

``I said to Dion Nash at the other end: 'Did you hear anything' and he said no. They're very good appealers. But that's sport. You get good decisions and you get bad ones.''

There was a touch of one-upmanship in his hundred. He struck seven sixes in his innings, one more than his father struck in his famous innings against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

``There's friendly rivalry there, so it was good to get one up on him.''

Neither he nor his team-mates are under any illusions about how tough the next two months will be against South Africa.

``They've got a tremendous cricket side, but it's our turf and with home support hopefully we can put up a good performance against them.''