Cameron Bancroft has cashed in with a Sheffield Shield century as his stocks continue to soar ahead of a decision on Test opener David Warner's replacement.
Bancroft's unbeaten 121 and Teague Wyllie's 94 underpinned Western Australia's imposing 2-237 against Victoria on day two at the WACA Ground in Perth.
After bowling the Vics out for 256 and resuming on Thursday at 1-29, Bancroft and Wyllie amassed a 193-run partnership for the second wicket.
While Marcus Harris is considered frontrunner to replace Warner, who will quit Test cricket in January, Bancroft is making his own compelling case.
After being banned with Warner for the sandpaper scandal in 2018, Bancroft played two more Tests in 2019 before being discarded.
But last summer the 30-year-old was the Shield's leading scorer with 945 runs at 59.06 to help WA win consecutive four-day titles.
Bancroft, fresh from a successful English county stint with Somerset, continued his prolific scoring with a 24th first-class ton to give WA control of the Victorians.
The right-hander struck 11 fours and two sixes in his 306-ball knock, with Wyllie (251 balls, 15 fours) similarly locked in.
The pair took WA to within 50 runs of Victoria when Wyllie left a delivery from paceman Mitchell Perry (1-19) that nipped back and hit the top of middle stump.
Fringe Test paceman Scott Boland finished with 1-55 from 23 overs, while off-spinner Todd Murphy had 0-63 from 21 overs.
