Blue-chip Maddinson's stock on the rise

While the Australian dollar has plummeted in recent months, one of the country's most valuable cricketing stocks chose the first day of summer trading to pull himself out of a batting recession.

Nic Maddinson has long been regarded as a batsman with enormous upside potential and the 23-year-old provided a reminder of his value with a polished 108 in NSW's Matador BBQs One-Day Cup opener in Sydney on Monday.

It was Maddinson’s first-ever century for the Blues in one-day cricket, having previously been unable to convert one of his eight List A fifties into three figures.

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On the same day the Aussie dollar lifted to stay marginally above 70 US cents, the left-hander was pleased that he was able to push his own personal conversion rate back towards the black.

"A hundred in any game is always very pleasing," Maddinson said. "Being my first for NSW in one-dayers, I feel like I'd come close a few times and felt like I'd threw it away on 70 or 80 so it was nice to get there.

"It's been a pretty lean pre-season for me in terms of runs so it was good to actually spend time in the middle and put into practice some mental routines and play a little bit of a different game to what I've played before.

"I guess it's probably that time to – once I've got myself in – to sort of take a step back and be happy to get off strike and build my innings that way, rather than looking for boundaries still. And that was the thing I tried to change today."

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While fluctuations on the stock market are a nightmare for financial analysts, the variations in pace of Maddinson's 120-ball innings against the CA XI highlighted a glimpse of his cricketing maturity.

He started strongly in early trading, hitting five fours and a six inside the first seven overs to be 33 from 29 balls when opening partner Ed Cowan perished with the score on 56.

The opening batsman then consolidated, scoring just one more boundary and taking a further 23 balls to reach his half-century.

And he was happy to continue that steady pace as he approached three figures before lifting the rate again, reaching his ton with a four and a six in consecutive deliveries.

He was out a short time later after getting a leading edge back to bowler Jack Wildermuth, escaping the scorching Sydney heat and returning to the sanctuary of the Steve and Mark Waugh Pavilion at the northern end of Bankstown Oval.

And the man whose name adorns the players' area, national selector and Test great Mark Waugh, was impressed with Maddinson's performance.

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"Nic is obviously a player of great potential for NSW," Waugh said at a ground where he and his brother flayed many a century at club and state level.

"He's had some taste of international cricket but he's a player that I know the National Selection Panel definitely have on the radar for higher honours. He's just got to get runs consistently and make big scores.

"(Scoring a century) won't do him any harm, that's for sure. It'd probably count more if he got a duck.

"You keep scoring runs, you get your confidence up and people notice when you're making big hundreds or taking five wickets.

"That's what you've got to do as a player."

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With Australian cricket in somewhat of a state of flux following the Ashes, Maddinson is one of several promising youngsters pushing for higher honours this summer.

His name was first floated as a player to watch when he scored a century on Shield debut as an 18-year-old in 2010, but the product from the NSW south coast has had to be content with just two Twenty20 internationals so far in his still fledgling career.

And while his main focus for the summer is to push the powerful Blues side towards more silverware, he is also hoping to put his name up in lights and further impress national selectors.

"I don't think I'd play cricket if I didn't want to play at the highest level possible," he said. "It's a one-day tournament so it's about still improving, staying hungry for runs in the next couple of weeks.

"I think it's pretty simple – if you score runs, you get picked. That's as simple as it is.

"I guess the easy goals are just team goals. We want to win the Matador first and foremost and another Shield (title).

"And hopefully I can contribute along the way. I'd like to say I could be the leading run scorer for NSW, but situations change and it might be difficult sometimes. But it's about winning tournaments."