South Australian paceman Chadd Sayers gained currency on Saturday but teammate Travis Head and NSW's Peter Nevill failed to bank a deposit on an Ashes spot.
Sayers grabbed four NSW wickets in the Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide.
But fellow Test candidate Head was dismissed for a golden duck and gloveman Nevill couldn't press his claims with the bat, making 20 for the Blues.
SA were 4-145 at stumps on day two, five runs behind NSW, who were all out for 242 after skittling the Redbacks for 92 in their first innings.
Sayers claimed 4-82 from 27 overs, giving Test selectors more food for thought ahead of the five-Test Ashes series against England.
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The SA swing bowler was denied the opportunity to stake a Test bid in October when Australia A's tour of South Africa was canned because of the pay dispute.
But Sayers wasted little time in continuing his domestic wicket-taking ways - he has 205 Shield wickets at an average around 23.
Sayers is battling Jackson Bird for the status as Australia's fourth paceman behind NSW trio Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who was rested from the Shield opener.
Starc and Cummins both claimed two wickets on Friday in SA's first dig but were blunted on Saturday by Redbacks opening batsmen Jake Weatherald and John Dalton.
The unheralded pair put on an opening partnership of 137 - 45 more than the entire SA first innings - with Weatherald making 71 and Dalton 64.
But the Redbacks then lost 4-8 with Starc taking three of them - two in consecutive deliveries, including bowling Head first ball with a ripping in-dipper.
Starc claimed 3-55 from 17 overs, Cummins had 0-43 from 19 overs and spinner Nathan Lyon, who didn't bowl in the first innings, had 1-18 from 11 overs.
The trio are locks for Australia's first Test squad to play England from November 23 in Brisbane.
But, like SA's Head, Blues wicketkeeper Nevill couldn't make a compelling case with the bat to join them.
After Test incumbent Matthew Wade made just one run for Tasmania in the first innings of their Shield game against Western Australia, Nevill resumed on Saturday on five not out.
But a big score eluded him, making 20 from 67 balls before being trapped lbw.
