Leg-spinner Adam Zampa had delivered a reminder to national selectors by taking a career-best 6-62 for South Australia on Saturday.
Zampa bowled with bounce and zip throughout 21.4 impressive overs to help fire out Queensland for 218 in their Sheffield Shield clash at the Adelaide Oval.
In reply, South Australia's openers Sam Raphael and Jake Weatherald weathered a tough late session to be 0-35 at stumps.
It was Zampa, a regular for Australia's ODI and Twenty20 sides throughout the summer, who shone in what is a crucial match in the race for next month's Sheffield Shield final.
"I have felt like a big bag (of wickets) was coming pretty soon," Zampa said.
"But it has been pretty tough when we have been producing wickets like we have, and obviously our seam bowlers have been having a lot of success.
"I feel I have bowled really well in Shield cricket for the past couple of seasons now and I have just been trying to play my role for the team."
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey aided Zampa's cause, collecting five dismissals, including a sharp stumping.
Queensland lost wickets in clumps after a bright start against the consistent South Australian attack.
Opening pair Peter Forrest (21) and skipper Joe Burns (30) fell in quick succession.
But it got worse for the Bulls, who lost three middle-order wickets without the addition of a run.
It took gritty knocks from inexperienced pair Jake Wildermuth (40) and Jimmy Peirson (50) for Queensland to avoid complete embarrassment.
Zampa believes the wicket will improve for batting on day two in a match neither side can ill-afford to lose.
"The wicket was actually better early on (today) than we have been used to so we had to drag things back and build the pressure," Zampa said.
"It was pretty hard to score out there with the wicket pretty slow.
"But seeing the way our openers played (shows) the wicket is not zipping around and is not as bad as we have been used to lately."
