Glenn Maxwell has reminded Australian selectors of his talents and Jon Holland has spun through Queensland's batsmen as Victoria edged closer to victory on day two in the Sheffield Shield.
Left-arm spinner Holland took three wickets in his first over to leave Queensland reeling at 4-50 at stumps on Saturday, trailing Victoria by 230 runs in their second innings at the MCG.
Test candidate Joe Burns was trapped lbw for seven by paceman Scott Boland, who clean-bowled Burns for four in the first innings.
Cameron White (104 not out) top-scored for Victoria, spending five hours at the crease before bringing up his ton with a six as the hosts posted 417.
A week after his controversial omission from Victoria's opening-round win over Tasmania, Maxwell made a poised 81 off 138 balls.
The allrounder was dropped early in his innings and eventually edged a Michael Neser outswinger. Dan Christian's quickfire 43 included three sixes off one Mitchell Swepson over.
Paceman Jack Wildermuth was the pick of the bowlers for Queensland, taking 3-51 off 16 overs, after the visitors were skittled for 137 on Friday.
The Bushrangers' decision to name Maxwell 12th man last week was questioned by Test selector Mark Waugh and followed Maxwell's unsuccessful attempt to move to NSW before the start of the domestic season.
Maxwell is likely to be in the mix for Australia's tour of India in 2017, given his ability to bat against and to bowl spin, and he might even be considered sooner given Mitch Marsh's struggles with the bat for Australia against South Africa in Perth.
"I think my first-class record's pretty much always (spoken) for itself," Maxwell said.
"I've always been pretty confident every time I've come back and played Shield cricket, whether it be from a one-day tour or being over in England.
"Today was a bit of a different approach, obviously having to bat with Whitey through a pretty difficult period when we lost a few wickets late last night.
"To get through that, have a big partnership with him and help him get towards a hundred was outstanding and put us in an amazing position heading in to day three. Hopefully we can get these six wickets nice and early tomorrow."
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