Sheffield Shield leaders Queensland have been torn to shreds by an understrength NSW outfit, crumbling in their second innings to be 8-152 at tea on day three at Manuka Oval.
The miserable return gives the Bulls a lead of 76 currently, while the Blues have a day and a session to push for just their second outright victory of the season.
The Bulls struggled mightily with some uneven bounce on Thursday, leading to Blues allrounder Moises Henriques picking up two wickets when Wade Townsend (39) and Peter Forrest (22) shouldered arms to regulation deliveries only to have their stumps rattled.
First innings heroes Chris Hartley (3) and Nathan Reardon (5) both offered little resistance the second time around, while wickets fell regularly throughout the day.
Allrounder Ben Cutting is on 23 not out with tailender Cameron Boyce unbeaten on nine.
After surprising the small crowd at Manuka Oval with an early declaration of 8-319, the Blues took three scalps before lunch, and a further five during an extended middle session before tea to have the visitors on the ropes.
And they’ve done it without Test hopefuls Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Shane Watson and the injured Trent Copeland (ankle).
But after Doug Bollinger starred in the first innings with 4-57, the wickets have been shared around more evenly in the second dig.
Usman Khawaja, the third-highest run-scorer in Shield cricket leading into this game, had been eager to impress with national selector Andy Bichel watching from the stands.
But on the day of the announcement of Ricky Ponting’s Test retirement Khawaja responded with his second failure of the match on a traditionally batsman-friendly wicket.
The 25-year-old could only muster eight runs before being trapped lbw to former Test paceman Doug Bollinger, who also removed Khawaja for a second ball duck in the first innings.
Henriques remains the pick of the bowlers with 3-20, while Josh Lalor has 2-27 and Bollinger, Sean Abbott and debutant Adam Zampa all have one each.
Earlier, the Blues batted for little more than half an hour before captain Stephen O’Keefe closed the NSW innings with a lead of 76 runs.
Former Test allrounder Steve Smith was unable to add to his overnight score of 90, falling agonisingly short of his sixth first-class century.
Smith was removed with the fifth ball of the opening over of the day when he feathered a catch down legside to Bulls keeper Chris Hartley off Cameron Gannon.
Gannon then added the wicket of debutant Adam Zampa, who smashed a quick-fire 18 off 22 balls, to finish with figures of 3-51.