The Sunshine skipper rescued his side's innings with 121 against powerhouse Kew at Dempster Park.

The Crows went on to make a competitive 196 and have a fighting chance of shock victory entering day two.

Stone was the man of the moment with his near flawless innings.

"I felt really good out there today," he said.

"This is the highlight of my career so far because it came against a good bowling attack."

Stone gave the impression a round earlier that his slow start was about to turn around.

The 26-year-old carved out 47 against Coburg to be one of the Crows' better batsmen.

With his team crying out for a special performance, Stone delivered with his first ton for 23 months.

While his teammates did not contribute by way of runs, they occupied the crease to ensure he raised his bat on a big one.

Stone featured in a 40-run partnership with John Blake and a 73-run stand for the seventh wicket with Sam Magnano.

"There were not too many big scores but we batted in partnerships," Stone said.

"It was a really good batting performance."

The Stone-Blake runs came at a critical time.

The Crows were on the ropes at 4-45 when the pair got together in the middle.

It was a turning point in the innings.

The Crows perished in the 62nd over when the light was deteriorating and the scramble for quick runs was on. They still had a total that is defendable with their bowling attack, which consists of Romain Grenville, Kapelan Kulendranathan and Joey Blake.

Kew, the ladder leaders, were 0-20 off eight overs with the task ahead of them with the bat.

The Crows, on the other hand, are searching for just their second win of the summer.

VSDCA

Firsts: Sunshine 196 (Stone 121) v Kew 0-20.

Seconds: Kew 5-504 v Sunshine.