The New South Wales has been successful in translating its strength on paper into results on the field.

Brett Lee. Simon Katich. Stuart Clark. When your line-up boasts of top notch players from the Australian national side, the opposition are in some serious trouble. The New South Wales Blues have done almost everything right in the competition so far.

Up against the dogged Diamond Eagles in their first game, NSW Blues set a score of 144 and dismissed the South African side for a mere 91. Stuart Clark's three wickets proved that he's a bowler that holds the key no matter what the format. His Indian antecedents have only spurred him on to come up with one special performance after another in the tournament.

The Blues' next encounter was against English team Sussex and this too proved to be theirs for the taking. Winning by 35 runs on a slow Delhi wicket is quite something and NSW looked every bit in control while achieving the feat. Moises Henriques shone with the bat and ball and the Blues leapt into the League Stage with two impressive wins to their credit.

The League Stage had their first loss in store - against an inspired T&T in Hyderabad. The Blues couldn't do much to stop the firebrand Kieron Pollard who launched a ruthless assault on a formidable bowling attack. No team can really stem the flow of runs when the batsman is in such good nick and the Blues just happened to be on the other side of one of the finest T20 knocks ever.

Hyderabad was the location of their comeback match and this they did in style by beating a clueless Somerset CCC by six wickets and with 8 overs to spare. David Warner's 40 runs and Stuart Clark's three wickets proved to be too much for the depleted English side to handle.

The next time they take the field in CLT20, New South Wales Blues will be up against old rivals from Australia - the Victorian Bushrangers. Earlier this year, the Blues had registered a convincing win in the domestic T20 championship. It was that victory that sealed a CLT20 berth for NSW Blues. Runners-up Victorian Bushrangers too made it to this contest by virtue of reaching the domestic final. Going by their performance so far, NSW Blues have an edge over their compatriots. But Australian teams tend to reserve the best for the big games. The Bushrangers will offer the Blues some stiff competition on October 21 in Delhi. Simon Katich's boys will be looking forward to the encounter with some relish. And audiences are getting set for a rivetting contest which will catapult an Aussie team to the grand final, no matter what the result.

Courtesy: clt20.com