JAMES Franklin is out to score as many one-day runs as possible for Gloucestershire this season after being overlooked by New Zealand for the World Twenty20.

The popular all-rounder launched his Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign with a maiden limited overs century against Derbyshire Falcons at Bristol, having been promoted to open the Gladiators' innings for the first time.

He admits to being bitterly disappointed at not being named in his country's squad for the West Indies, but instead is setting his sights on a big summer in county cricket.

After hitting 133 against the Falcons, he said: "One of the reasons I've never made a one-day hundred before is that I have usually batted at six or seven.

"John Bracewell discussed the possibility of me opening when I arrived for this season and it certainly paid off in this game.

"But there is a long season ahead and I want to keep making runs for the team.

"The New Zealand squad have left for West Indies with everyone fit, so it looks like I'll be missing out on that tournament.

"It's a disappointment, but the plus side is that I can concentrate on my cricket with Gloucestershire because there are very few other international commitments this summer."

Having dominated with the bat, Franklin went on to claim the key wicket of Falcons skipper Chris Rogers.

While the Australian was at large, the visitors were in with a chance, and he shared in stands of 47 and 25 with Greg Smith and Garry Park for the third and fourth wickets respectively to steady the ship after Steve Kirby had accounted for openers Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen.

Rogers already has two hundreds to his name this season, but just as he was threatening to cut loose and make a game of it, he erred, attempting to play Franklin to mid-wicket and top-edging a catch to wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty for 37.

The Falcons never looked likely to recover from the wreckage of 108 for five in the 24th over and occasional off-spinner Chris Taylor ensured there would be no thrilling finale, fooling Park into slogging a long-hop down the throat of deep mid-wicket and persuading South African international Robin Peterson to top-edge a reverse sweep to short fine leg.

There were 27 balls remaining when John Sadler was last man out for 41. Franklin had earlier hit 50 from 60 balls, faced a further 44 deliveries to raise three figures and resorted to long-handle tactics only at the death to eclipse his previous one-day best of 87 not out, made for Wellington against Otago in 2008/09.

Alex Gidman and Chris Taylor offered support, playing second fiddle in stands of 89 and 70 for the third and fourth wickets respectively.

Franklin said: "It was very important that we beat Derbyshire after losing our opening two Championship games and I'm delighted to have played a part.

"I'm also pleased to have seen the innings through to the end because it meant we could score freely in our batting power play and boost our total.

"When I first went in and we lost early wickets, I thought 200 would be a good score. When we ended up with 230 I was always confident that we could defend it."