South Australia will now have to wait until Sunday to try and qualify for the Ryobi Cup final after New South Wales spoiled their plans on Thursday by recording a bonus-point win over the Redbacks at the SCG.
Chasing 265 to guarantee themselves a place in the final against Victoria, the Redbacks were outplayed by an impressive NSW outfit and eventually went down by 56 runs.
Nic Maddinson (85) and Tim Cruickshank (61) starred for the Blues as the home side reached 8-264 at the end of their 50 overs.
Fired up after their performance with the bat, NSW got an early break when Trent Copeland (2-42) had Tim Ludeman caught behind for a duck in the second over.
Ludeman played down the line, but the ball took a thin edge through to Peter Nevill.
Michael Klinger (four) soon followed Ludeman back to the change-rooms after he fell to a fine piece of bowling from Gurinder Sandhu (3-50).
A shorter delivery caught the shoulder of Klinger's bat and the ball popped up to David Dawson in the gully, who made no mistake with the catch.
Sandhu didn't take long to strike again, getting debutant Travis Head caught behind for four.
With three wickets down for just 28 runs, the Redbacks were in a whole lot of trouble.
But Callum Ferguson and Dan Christian steadied the innings, with Ferguson going on to make his half-century.
It was Adam Zampa (3-55) who broke the 67-run partnership, bowling Christian for 22 runs. Christian came forward and missed the ball, which went straight through to hit the stumps.
Alex Ross then joined Ferguson at the crease and built up another good partnership before Sandhu claimed his third wicket, getting Ross to edge one behind for 32.
Ferguson departed in the next over, his excellent knock of 78 coming to an end when he tried to hit Copeland over the top, only to pick out Rohrer at extra cover.
Skipper Johan Botha and Kane Richardson showed some resistance, but they both fell to Zampa in the same over.
The Redbacks eventually ended their innings on 8-208 with Cullen Bailey (19) and Chadd Sayers (seven) the not-out batsmen.
Earlier, Maddinson's wonderful knock guided the Blues to their match-winning total.
The home side managed to overcome the early loss of Dawson, who couldn't replicate his form from the Sheffield Shield win over Tasmania.
Dawson edged a Richardson delivery behind to Ludeman and had to depart for just two runs.
Scott Henry and Cruickshank made a quick recovery and were just starting to build a good partnership when Henry (26) pulled a short Jake Haberfield (1-31) delivery straight to Ferguson in the deep.
Maddinson then joined Cruickshank at the crease and the two went on to anchor the innings.
Cruickshank reached his half-century off 71 balls to lay the foundations for a big total, but it was Botha (1-61) who made the big breakthrough when he dismissed Cruickshank, ending the 87-run partnership between the two.
It was a quicker delivery from Botha and Cruickshank edged it behind to Ludeman, who took the catch after the ball first hit his gloves then his chest.
Skipper Ben Rohrer showed some aggression when he came in to bat with the score on 3-138 at the end of the 32nd over.
Together, Maddinson and Rohrer upped the run rate, helped by some sloppy fielding from the visitors.
Maddinson brought up his half-century with a massive six - his first 50 of the year in one day cricket.
After some wonderful batting, Maddinson was eventually bowled by Richardson.
Rohrer went on to make 41 before he too fell to Richardson, Christian taking the catch at wide mid on.
Nevill (two) and Sean Abbot (10) both fell cheaply to Richardson, who was easily the pick of the bowlers, finishing with impressive figures of 6-51.
South Australia will have another crack at qualification when the two sides meet again in Adelaide on Sunday.
First Posted 14 February, 2013 10:29PM AEST
