Victoria have given themselves a mighty chance of upsetting Sheffield Shield leaders South Australia, strengthening their prospects of qualifying for the final.
At stumps on day two, Victoria are 0-46, a lead of 48, after restricting the visitors to 283 in reply to their first-innings total of 285 in Melbourne.
After making a first-innings duck, former Test opener Marcus Harris (17 not out) is unbeaten with Campbell Kellaway (23no) and will resume batting together on Saturday.
Normally a batting-friendly pitch at Junction Oval, SA decided to bowl first on Thursday when they saw a pitch full of grass.
However, warm weather in Melbourne could mean the pitch flattens out and becomes better to bat on in the second innings.
Three-Test opener Nathan McSweeney's patient 60 was the backbone of SA's innings, as Victoria quicks Fergus O'Neill (5-51) and Scott Boland (4-53) caused carnage.
Boland started the rot late on Thursday, picking up both of SA's openers to leave them teetering at 2-40 at stumps on day one.
McSweeney had solid help from Harry Nielsen (45), Jake Lehmann (40), Ben Manenti (34) and Liam Scott (32), but no one was able to contain Boland and O'Neill for long enough.
A win would secure SA a home final, potentially at Adelaide Oval, as they hunt a first Shield title in 29 years.
Victoria sit fourth on the table with two games to play, but are more than close enough to leapfrog NSW and WA into second.
The hosts are without captain Will Sutherland, who is resting from this game after a heavy workload this summer across all formats.
