NSW have declared on 9-397 following a coming-of-age 154 to young opener Ryan Carters in their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland at the SCG.

The Blues were in trouble at times during the rain-affected clash, but were pulled from the mire by Carters.

The 23-year-old showed maturity beyond his years to steady the home side after the loss of early wickets on Friday, and cashed in on day two with his maiden first class century.

Along with skipper Peter Nevill (70) he turned the momentum of the match with a 144-run sixth wicket partnership which gave the Blues the upper hand.

Carters and Nevill came together at 5-187 with the Blues still in some strife, but didn’t missed a beat – despite losing 90 minutes to rain either side of lunch.

Chasing quick runs, tailenders Trent Copeland (32 off 43) and Sean Abbott (29 off 29) put on 47 at better than six an over.

Their exits, both off leg-spinner Cameron Boyce (3-80), triggered a declaration from Nevill.

Boyce’s spinning ally, former Test offspinner Nathan Hauritz, was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors – though his figures of 3-123 weren’t flattering.

But at the centre of everything was Carters, the opener who batted for just under seven hours, faced 316 balls and hit 17 boundaries.

The knock follows an impressive 94 in last week’s tour match against England for Carters, who moved to NSW from Victoria in the off-season.

NSW entered this match high on confidence following last week’s 150-run victory over the fifth-placed Bulls.

Queensland started strongly on Saturday, removing Moises Henriques with the first ball of the day.

Michael Neser (2-77), had the fringe Test allrounder trapped LBW for a golden duck to have the home side on the back foot early.

But a sprightly 47-run partnership between the Canberra-born Carters and fellow youngster Kurtis Patterson (22) re-energised the Blues.

Queensland’s attack, already missing Test paceman Ryan Harris, is a man down after seamer Matthew Gale suffered a right knee injury during his fourth over on Friday.

The 28-year-old is expected to miss six weeks.