There were so many dizzy spells the players were left seeing stars at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.

Sparked by Jason Gillespie, a total of 20 wickets fell on the first day/night of the Pura Cup match between NSW and South Australia here today.

At stumps, the Blues were 0-16 in their second innings - an overall lead of 62. Play finished under lights and well after sunset thanks to the constant tumbling of wickets and the prolonged use of fast bowlers.

The rapid turnover of batsmen started in the first over of the day at 10.30am AEST and didn't end until the stars were out at 6.40pm.

Gillespie fired down two spells of world-class pace bowling either side of lunch, taking four wickets in each patch to finish with career best figures of 8-50 as NSW collapsed to 188.

But Gillespie's team-mates failed to make the fast bowler's effort count for anything as the Redbacks replied with a paltry 142.

In a warning to New Zealand's batsmen ahead of the first Test starting in less than a fortnight, Gillespie kept the ball pitched up all day - with devastating consequences.

He beat Michael Slater to trap the out-of-form opener lbw with the sixth ball of the day but his best was the one that got through Mark Waugh.

Waugh (12) has been in outstanding form and looked ominous today until Gillespie knocked over his off-stump with a ball which seamed viciously to make one of the world's best batsmen look ordinary.

"That was as good as I can bowl," Gillespie said afterwards. "I can't bowl any better than that."

Gillespie admitted the greenish SCG pitch encouraged the ball to "deck around" and said he reaped the reward for sticking to a plan laid out by coach Greg Chappell.

"I had a good chat to Greg before the game and he said the way the wicket was looking it would be a good idea if bowled a bit fuller today.

"That's not my normal style, my stock ball is back of a length and it was hard to bowl fuller - it's not something I'm used to.

"But I put the ball in the right spot and it came off.

"It was just one of those days - they don't happen often but when they do you just cash in."

Gillespie's haul bettered his previous best first class effort of 7-34 for an Australian XI against South Africa province Border in 1996-97 and his 7-37 against England at Headingley in 1997.

It was easily the best pace bowling effort at the SCG in 50 years as most of the big hauls at this ground have gone to spin bowlers.

Not since Edward White took 8-31 for NSW against SA in 1935-36 has a fast bowler done so well at the SCG.

The only disappointment for Gillespie was the poor batting of his team in response.

Having made a gallant 23 down the order, Gillespie felt the pitch wasn't fully responsible for the demise of 20 batsmen.

"It was hard work early for the batters - the ball was seaming around a lot.

"But if you hung around for a while and waited for the shine to go off the ball it was a little bit easier - it wasn't a piece of a cake - but if you work really hard you can get something."

He also said the Redbacks "let them off the hook" when Nathan Bracken (38) and Stuart MacGill (27) hammered 61 runs for the ninth wicket off 47 balls.

For NSW, the wickets were shared by Test fast bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee as well as one-day internationals Shane Lee and Nathan Bracken.

Lee performed adequately in his return from injury but will need to do more in the second innings to impress the national selectors.

© 2001 AAP