The NSW Blues lead by 110 runs with five second innings wickets in hand at the end of day three of the Bupa Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia in Newcastle.

After bowling Western Australia out for 300 and taking a 45 run lead into the second innings, NSW lost regular wickets during the final session of the day to be 5-65 at stumps with Ryan Carters (14), Kurtis Patterson (4), Nic Maddinson (2), Moises Henriques (6) and Peter Nevill (0) all dismissed.

Opener Scott Henry remains unbeaten on 37 and is looming as a key player on day four as the Blues look to build their lead.

Earlier this morning, players were greeted by heavy showers which meant a 20 minute delay to the start of play.

Resuming on 5-158, Adam Voges and Sam Whiteman added 67 runs during the opening two hour session.

It was a tough period for the disciplined NSW bowling attack before lunch, with Doug Bollinger and Nathan Lyon both producing probing spells and beating the bat several times without luck.

The Western Australians continued to forge ahead in the middle session with Whiteman and Voges bringing up their century partnership.

Doug Bollinger (2-43) finally got the breakthrough in the 119th over of the innings when he bowled Voges for 87, bringing to an end a 120 run stand for the eighth wicket.

He then backed up to remove Ashton Agar (0) a few overs later before Nathan Lyon (3-73) and Stephen O’Keefe (2-48) combined to pick up the remaining wickets, with Western Australia all out shortly before tea.