Blues strike twice late on day one in Perth

Mitch Marsh has carried the confidence gained from his Magellan Ashes form to take four NSW Blues wickets for Western Australia on day one of the JLT Sheffield Shield clash at the WACA Ground.

At stumps, WA were 2-17 in reply to the Blues' 204 all out, with Marsh's 4-50 and Daniel Hughes' 49 the standout performances. 

NSW captain Peter Nevill won the toss and elected to bat first, a decision which was paying off nicely with the Blues 1-89 shortly after lunch.

But then Marsh got into his groove with the Dukes ball, which had been swinging markedly through the first session.

The allrounder got rid of Hughes (49), Moises Henriques (5) and Kurtis Patterson (24) as the Blues lost 3-16 to be 4-105.

They steadied to be 4-137 but lost their last six wickets for 67 runs after the interval, with Ed Cowan's 46 helping the visitors to a meaningful total.

Despite NSW losing Nick Larkin (13) in the opening session, it appeared a good move by Nevill to decide to bat first with Hughes and Patterson looking solid.

They put together a 49-run stand either side of lunch before Marsh had Hughes caught at first slip by Ashton Turner for 49. Henriques lasted just five balls before falling to Marsh also for five.

Patterson then cut a ball off Marsh straight to Matt Kelly at point to be out for 24, and despite Cowan's resistance, the wickets fell thick and fast after tea, with Kelly (2-34) the only other multiple wicket-taker. 

WA then lost opener Will Bosisto for a duck in the opening over of their reply, and they were two down when nightwatchman Kelly departed a short time later to be seamer Trent Copeland's second wicket. 

"After losing the toss and them batting first, to bowl them out for 200 was a great effort," Marsh said. "We really stuck to our plans and were patient for the first couple of sessions and got the rewards late.

"I'm very happy with the way we bowled. Obviously in those scenarios you can lose a couple at the end but we bat really deep and we back ourselves to try and get a lead."

Western Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Cameron Bancroft, Will Bosisto, Shaun Marsh, Hilton Cartwright, Ashton Turner, Josh Inglis, Jhye Richardson, Matthew Kelly, Alex Bevilaqua, Simon Mackin, Jon Wells (12th man)

New South Wales: Peter Nevill (c), Nick Larkin, Daniel Hughes, Kurtis Patterson, Moises Henriques, Ed Cowan, Trent Copeland, Gurinder Sandhu, Charlie Stobo, Nathan Lyon, Mickey Edwards, Nic Maddinson (12th man)