A two-wicket over from returning paceman Josh Hazlewood has given NSW the upper hand early in the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania at Bellerive.
Hazlewood had taken some early stick from Mark Cosgrove but removed the Tigers opener and No.3 Alex Doolan in his sixth over.
Cosgrove smacked five fours in his 36 before Hazlewood clean bowled him at 1-53, and Doolan was trapped in front three balls later for four after surviving a big lbw shout from the first delivery he faced.
At lunch on day one, Tasmania were 3-70 with Ricky Ponting unbeaten on nine and Jonathan Wells four.
After Cosgrove and Ben Dunk had posted their half century opening stand, the Tigers lost 3-4 in 10 balls to blow their good start after captain Tim Paine had won the toss.
Dunk was lbw to Chris Tremain (1-14) for 13 at 3-58.
Hazlewood had 2-33 at the break in his comeback to long-form cricket following more than a month on the sidelines with a foot injury.
The 22-year-old, who has played a single one-day international, was called into Australia’s Test squad before the third match of the series against South Africa in November.
Both sides are missing a host of Australian representatives in what is a crucial game between the fourth-placed Tigers on 16 points and, just a point behind, the fifth-placed Blues.