Glenn Maxwell will take to the crease on Thursday at the MCG not knowing whether he still has time to convince Australia's Test selectors he's their man for the Ashes.
Time proved to be Maxwell's enemy on Wednesday, as Alex Doolan (247no) and Tim Paine (71no) helped Tasmania to set the foundations for a towering Sheffield Shield win over Victoria.
The visitors declared their second innings at 2-424 and had Victoria struggling at 2-67 in reply, requiring 386 runs to win.
Bad light stopped play in the final over before stumps with Maxwell 20no and Test batsman Peter Handscomb on five.
Showers are forecast for Thursday in Melbourne but Maxwell will fancy his chances of building a big score against an inexperienced Tasmanian attack on a batting-friendly pitch.
The question is whether it will be too late to make any difference to his chances of batting at No.6 in the Ashes.
National selectors were due to meet on Wednesday afternoon in Brisbane to pick Australia's side for the first two Ashes Tests.
With the team to be announced on Friday, Maxwell was unsure on Wednesday evening whether the XI had already been set in stone.
"I have no idea what direction they're going to go in," he said.
"We've obviously seen Cameron Bancroft perform extremely well over in the west and a few guys put their hands up ... I think that's what (selectors) asked for but who knows what they're going to do?"
Despite making only four in the first innings against Tasmania, Maxwell has the advantage of incumbency, the backing of several former greats and a recent Test century to his name.
But it is increasingly difficult to see how selectors can overlook Bancroft, who had continued a barnstorming Shield campaign with 228 not out earlier in the week for Western Australia.
With selectors appearing likely to back Test opener Matt Renshaw, despite his poor recent form in domestic cricket, the No.6 spot is where Bancroft would most likely slot in.
Maxwell helped his case last week with scores of 60 and 64 against South Australia, although he would have earned more credits if he'd been able to reach triple figures.
"I would have liked to have turned one of those into a big hundred," he said.
"But I think if you look at the way I got out, it wasn't a technical flaw, it wasn't a wide nick or anything like that.
"They were just strange dismissals.
"A ball getting caught in your jumper and you tickle it back onto your stumps trying to chest it away, and an lbw that for all the replays we saw could have been missing leg ... I'm not overly disappointed with the way that I got out."
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