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Allrounders line up as Blues build huge lead

Sean Abbott and Peter Nevill build on a big hundred from Moises Henriques before Cameron Green and Sam Whiteman lead WA's response

As Sean Abbott added his name to the rapidly filling spreadsheet of allrounders eyeing national selection, his New South Wales teammate Moises Henriques sent a quiet reminder his days as a front-line bowler are far from over.

Abbott and Henriques were the headline acts on day two of the Blues' Marsh Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia, which ended with the former holding a lead of 291 while the latter surrendered two crucial wickets in the final session.

WA will resume at 2-152 with ex-keeper turned opener Sam Whiteman 81 not out and chasing his fourth Shield century having taken a heavy toll on NSW pace bowler Harry Conway, who conceded four boundaries in one blazing over.

Whiteman hits four fours in the over against Conway

Abbott's removal of Test-capped pair Cameron Bancroft (23) and Shaun Marsh (6) came after he clubbed a free-wheeling 60 from 78 balls that featured four hefty sixes and allowed the reigning champions to declare their first innings at 6-443 midway through the day.

But that total was built upon Henriques' imperious 167, his highest Shield score since posting a career-high 267 against Queensland at the SCG four seasons ago.

That was the summer that immediately preceded the most recent of Henriques' four Test appearances to date, when he was called into the XI for the dead-rubber final match of what proved to be a disastrous 0-3 drubbing by Sri Lanka on their dry and dusty home pitches.

Henriques bowled just two overs in that match, and has averaged only four wickets per season in each of the four Shield summers that followed during which he's also scored seven hundreds and as many half-centuries for the Blues.

However, he was quick to point out his days as an allrounder are not past even though he admits it's tough get the ball behind an attack that can include (depending on international availability) Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Trent Copeland, Conway and Abbott.

"Funnily enough, this pre-season I've probably done as much bowling as I have for a long time," Henriques said today.

"Definitely for the last year or two, there might have been a couple of games I was unavailable to bowl due to injury.

"But I think with the bowling attack we've had, Lyno (Lyon) has been around a lot for us over the last couple of years and when him and Copes (Copeland) play in the same team they tend to bowl about 60 of (each day's)  90 overs between them.

"But I'm definitely available to bowl and I feel like the ball's coming out as well as it has for a long time.

"I also feel like I'm as fit as I have been for a long time and quietly happy with the way things are progressing.

"So if the ball gets thrown my way I'll look forward to the challenge."

Magic Moises kicks off summer with 11th FC ton

Henriques also noted that if a fifth or sixth bowling option is required, then it's between him and occasional leg-spinner Jason Sangha as to who prevails when skipper Peter Nevill is considering his auxiliaries.

Neither of them were required to help out in the 49 overs sent down at WA after today's declaration, a closure that was hastened by the enterprising, unbeaten 118-run seventh-wicket stand between Abbott and Nevill (56no from 66 balls).

Their exuberant batting came in contrast to the manner in which the preceding four sessions had played out, on a slowish pitch that offered little to the bowlers but did not exhibit sufficient pace and carry to encourage fluent strokeplay.

Indeed, after Daniel Solway (86) was bowled trying to sweep Ashton Agar, the perils of forcing the pace became increasingly obvious.

Henriques' 276-ball occupation ended when he tried to loft Matthew Kelly over the infield and found the bottom of the bat to present Cameron Green with a chest-high catch at wide mid-on.

That shot was replicated by Sangha (7) in the next over, which meant NSW had lost 3-10 within 21 deliveries and - at 6-325 - were at risk of squandering the 400-plus total they had been closing in upon.

It wasn't quite the attritional style of cricket that belonged to a bygone era, although at one point when the Blues were looking to increase their scoring rate a gentleman on a penny farthing bicycle trundled along the bitumen path that flanks the ground's western boundary.

So the whirlwind stand between Abbott and Nevill, against bowlers whose legs were tiring on the lush and sandy Gladys Elphick Park surface that was once Lyon's domain, was as much a revelation as it was timely.

Abbott, who was regarded as a genuine allrounder earlier in his career but spent much of the 2018-19 summer languishing at No.10 in NSW's strong batting line-up, is relishing the opportunity to contribute runs further up the order.

He averaged almost 40 at Shield level for the Blues last season and concedes he had let his batting slide while focusing more heavily on his predominant skill with the ball.

Blues dominate day one after being sent in

"I just got sick of getting out cheaply and feeling like I wasn't doing a job," he said at day's end.

"I was a bit in the bush with the bat there for a while, but conditions today suited batting.

"I don't really like sitting on the sidelines and watching cricket, I prefer to be batting and bowling, so that's probably spurred that on a little bit.

"I was nice to get some runs today but certainly a big job to do with the ball tomorrow."

If NSW were then hoping that flurry of runs might deflate WA's top-order and render them more vulnerable to a new-ball onslaught this evening, it proved fleeting.

Opening pair Bancroft and Whiteman began in similarly attacking mode to NSW's last pair and scored at almost four an over before Bancroft was caught behind off a delivery from Abbott that was angled in and held its line.

But WA's hopes of maintaining that pace were dashed in Abbott's next over when Marsh, fresh from his run-a-ball century against South Australia last week, edged to third slip where Kurtis Patterson snared a sharp chance to his right at third slip.

It ensured WA took a more measured approach to the final hour, particularly Green (31no from 90 balls) who was content to play understudy to Whiteman despite being another whose name figures prominently on that 'likely Test allrounders' spreadsheet.

NSW Blues: Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Kurtis Patterson, Moises Henriques, Daniel Solway, Jason Sangha, Peter Nevill (c, wk), Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Nathan Lyon, Harry Conway

Western Australia: Cameron Bancroft, Sam Whiteman, Shaun Marsh (c), Cameron Green, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Josh Inglis (wk), Aaron Hardie, Matthew Kelly, Cameron Gannon, Liam Guthrie.