A scintillating 85 from NSW young gun Nic Maddinson steered the home side to 8-264 batting first in their one-day domestic clash with South Australia at the SCG.

Maddinson’s explosive innings, his first one-day half-century of the summer, overshadowed yet another impressive showing from Redbacks paceman Kane Richardson, who finished with 6-51 – his third five-wicket haul of the season.

Maddinson’s form in both short and long-form cricket has been unimpressive in the past 18 months – but turned that around with a brilliant Sheffield Shield century against Tasmania last week.

He backed up that bright innings with a powerful knock to drag NSW from a lethargic start to a competitive total on a dry, dusty SCG wicket.

Maddinson put on 87 with Tim Cruickshank, who scored a patient 61, before a blistering 88-run partnership with Ben Rohrer which came at quicker than eight runs an over.

Maddinson crunched seven sixes and five fours in his 74-ball knock, with Dan Christian (0-35) and young legspinner Cullen Bailey (0-43) bearing the brunt of the punishment.

At the other end of the spectrum was Richardson, who lifted his tally to 21 wickets for the summer by slowing the Blues charge.

It was Richardson who ended the Maddinson onslaught, rattling the 21-year-old’s stumps, before adding the scalps of Rohrer (41), Peter Nevill (2), Sean Abbott (10) and Trent Copeland (6), having earlier had David Dawson (2) caught behind.

Rohrer, who flew down to captain the Blues after playing in Australia’s Twenty20 loss to the West Indies, added 41 off 36 to elevate the Blues total in the dying overs.

SA can secure a spot in the one-day final against Victoria with a victory, while NSW are playing purely for pride after a disappointing campaign.