New South Wales believe they can wrestle back momentum in their crucial Sheffield Shield match against Victoria in Wagga Wagga despite being bowled out for their lowest first-innings total of the season.

The Blues scraped together just 206 on the opening day at Robertson Oval on a wicket that proved to be a challenging surface for batsmen.

In reply, Victoria faced just four overs to reach 0-11 at the close, with Rob Quiney and Test opener Chris Rogers at the crease.

“We are confident going into tomorrow that, if we take a leaf out of their book and bowl they way they did, we can make a lot of inroads,” said NSW batsman Nic Maddinson.

“It might not be a wicket where we can take a lot of wickets and blast them out.

“It could be one those games where you get your rewards late in the day. It will be a hard slog.”

Both sides went into the match in sight of leaders Western Australia, but it was second-placed Victoria who were on top from the early stages against the third-placed Blues.

NSW were quickly reduced to 2-23 and an 84-run partnership between Kurtis Patterson (42) and Maddinson (49) for the third wicket proved to be the only bright spot for the Blues.

Maddinson seemed set for a half century only to edge Dan Christian through to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. Wickets subsequently fell at regular intervals.

The wickets were shared among all six Victoria bowlers, who maintained line and length throughout a hot day in the NSW Riverina as the Blues barely got the run rate above two runs an over for much the day.

“The wicket was a bit up and down so it was quite tricky to score on,” said Maddinson.

“But if you are willing to dig in you could get rewards later in the day, but unfortunately we lost wickets just as we started to build momentum or partnerships.”

Test bowler Peter Siddle (2-39) and fellow opener Chris Tremain (2-35) impressed with their tight bowling for the Vics, while leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed chipped in with the key middle-order wickets of Peter Nevill (22) and Sean Abbott (9).

“If you offered us 206 at the start of the day, we would have taken it with both hands,” said Dubbo-raised Tremain.

“It was hard work for the batsman. It certainly wasn’t easy to blaze away.

“We are happy with how it ended up after the first days but it was hard to say how it will pan out until both teams have had a bat.”