NSW assistant coach Geoff Lawson believes national selectors are keeping tabs on Sean Abbott after the all-rounder took two key Queensland wickets in the Sheffield Shield.
Two weeks after bowling the bouncer that killed Phillip Hughes, Abbott returned to the SCG on Tuesday and changed the course of the game in the second session, finding some reverse swing on a batting-friendly deck to end the day with 2-53.
Along with Mitchell Starc (3-52), Abbott helped give the home side the edge as Queensland were bowled out for 268.
NSW were 1-17 at stumps.
It looked like a normal day's cricket but the memory of Hughes was everywhere.
Up until the 11th hour, many NSW players did not know if they would take the field and Nic Maddinson was a late withdrawal, replaced by Kurtis Patterson.
The small crowd in the Members Pavilion gave Abbott a warm round of applause when he was thrown the ball in the 13th over.
And Abbott signalled his intentions with his fifth ball when he delivered a short ball that comfortably sailed over batsman Joe Burns' head.
The NSW players formed a ring around Abbott when he took his first wicket with a beautiful yorker to uproot Nathan Reardon's (six) stumps shortly after lunch.
The players and coach Trevor Bayliss were not ready to talk to the media at the end of the day and left it to Lawson to speak on their behalf.
While some fans and commentators questioned whether Abbott would be a different player in the wake of the last fortnight, Lawson saw no reason the 22-year-old could not add to his three T20I and one ODI appearances for Australia.
"He's played one-day international cricket and he's one of those all-rounders on the way up," Lawson said.
"As a cricketer you've just got to keep on doing the business ... He can bat, bowl and field, so I think he's very much in the selectors' minds."
Abbott and Starc ripped through the Queensland middle order as the Bulls collapsed to lose 5-27 in eight overs during the second session.
Chris Hartley (41) and captain James Hopes (85) put on an 105-run partnership to steady Queensland's innings but first day honours belonged to the Blues.
Queensland did strike late in the day when Hopes dismissed Nicolas Larkin for a duck, and Hopes said the Bulls needed to be back at the batting crease late on day two if they was any chance of taking a win.
"It looks like a bit of an old-school SCG pitch, which will break up later in the game," he said.
"They got the ball going Irish and got through our middle order, which hurt us."
Ryan Carters (seven) and William Somerville (eight) were the Blues' not out batsman at the close of play.
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