James and Hamish marshal Kiwis

WELLINGTON, Monday (Reuters) - Hamish Marshall smashed a hundred and his identical twin James hit a half-century to help New Zealand reach 267 for three wickets on the first day of the opening test against Sri Lanka in Napier on Monday.

James made 52 in his second test appearance while Hamish was unbeaten on 133 when bad light stopped play early at McLean Park.

Nathan Astle was not out 37 after sharing an unbroken stand of 80 with Hamish while opener Craig Cumming and New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming both fell cheaply.

Cumming departed for 12 in the 14th over of the day when he was trapped lbw by left arm paceman Chaminda Vaas, bringing the Marshall twins together.

Fleming went for 16 when he dragged a ball from Lasith Malinga back onto his stumps.

James had an early let off when he was dropped by Sanath Jayasuriya at slip off debutant Nuwan Kulasekara's fourth ball in test cricket but survived to register his first test 50.

The twins put on 107 for the second wicket before James departed with the total on 142 when he edged a catch to Thilan Samaraweera at slip off Upul Chandana.

Hamish, who scored his maiden test hundred against Australia last month, also had a lucky escape on 92 when Malinga dropped a difficult return catch. But he regained his composure to reach his second test century in 219 minutes off 172 balls and finish the day with 17 boundaries and two sixes.

Astle followed up his fine half-century in the final test against Australia as the New Zealand batsmen made the most of the absence of Sri Lanka's strike bowler Muttiah Muralitharan.

NEW ZEALAND First innings

C.Cumming lbw b Vaas ..................................................	12
J.Marshall c Samaraweera b Chandana ..........................	52
H.Marshall not out .........................................................	133
S.Fleming b Malinga .......................................................	16
N.Astle not out ...............................................................	37

EXTRAS (b-4 lb-3 nb-10) ...............................................	17

TOTAL (for three wickets, 84 overs) .............................		267

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 2-142 3-187

TO BAT: L.Vincent, B.McCullum, K.Mills, P.Wiseman,
J.Franklin, C.Martin
BOWLING: Vaas 18-3-63-1 (nb-7), Malinga 14-4-37-1 (nb-2), 
Kulasekara 17-5-38-0, Herath 13-2-58-0, Chandana 18-2-61-1 (nb-1), 
Jayasuriya 3-1-8-0, Dilshan 1-0-5-0
SRI LANKA team: M.Atapattu, S.Jayasuriya, K.Sangakkara, M.Jayawardene, 
T.Samaraweera, T.Dilshan, U.Chandana, C.Vaas, N.Kulasekara, L.Malinga, R.Herath.