Blewett stars with bat and ball for Redbacks

South Australia 7 for 286 (Blewett 125, Ferguson 72) beat New South Wales199 (Phelps 55, Blewett 4-16) by 87 runs
Scorecard

Greg Blewett struck his highest one-day score and recorded his best bowling figures as South Australia romped to a comfortable 87-run win against New South Wales in their day-night ING Cup clash at the Adelaide Oval.

Blewett struck 125 from 145 balls, including 11 fours and four sixes, to launch his side to 7 for 286, and then blew the NSW tail away with 4 for 16 to seal SA's second victory in eight matches. The win lifted SA off the bottom of the table - and dumped NSW there instead.

South Australia's innings got off to a disastrous start after they were sent in by Stuart MacGill, as they lost two cheap wickets. But Blewett combined with Mark Higgs (48) to put on 95, and then piled on 99 more with Callum Ferguson (72) before being dismissed by Shawn Bradstreet. The late charge was led by Ferguson, whose runs came from 70 balls.

Blewett tucked into MacGill's bowling in particular, striking two sixes as he went for 49 from his six overs. It was Blewett's second century of the season, after his 118 not out against Tasmania at Hobart in November, which was his career-highest score until today, and he now has 431 runs this season at an average of 71.83.

NSW started their run-chase strongly, with the openers Matthew Phelps (55 from 55 balls) and Phil Jaques (22 from 23) putting on 78 for the first wicket. But then came a dramatic collapse. Five wickets fell for 15 runs in just six overs, with Jaques the first to fall. He was caught behind from a top-edged pull off Paul Rofe in the 12th over. Four quick wickets later, NSW were 5 for 93 and firmly in the mire.

Daniel Smith and the allrounder Bradstreet added some respectability to the Blues' total, as they put on 87 for the sixth wicket. But on came Blewett in the 36th, and found immediate success, breaking their partnership in just his second over when Bradstreet sent a catch to Nathan Adcock at mid-off.

Stuart Clark was Blewett's next victim, caught behind in his next over, then he bowled both MacGill and Doug Bollinger in his fourth over to complete a dream evening. SA also earned a bonus point for their margin of victory, which is the second thrashing the Blues have suffered in as many matches, after last weekend's 121-run loss to Queensland at Sydney.