Starc sizzles in late spell but O'Neill-led Vics on top

New South Wales' marquee batting talents, Sam Konstas and Steve Smith, both fluffed their lines on Monday but Mitchell Starc fired a warning shot ahead of the Test summer with a sizzling late spell in their Sheffield Shield contest with Victoria at the MCG.

The Vics retained the ascendancy after holding the Blues to exactly half their first-innings total of 272, though Starc gave his side a glimmer of hope on a spicy surface after bowling like the wind late on day two.

The left-armer looked to hit top speed as he tore through the Vics' top-order. Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli they are not, yet Starc's pure pace would surely have troubled Australia's upcoming foes.

Opener Ashley Chandrasinghe copped a brute of a lifter that rebounded off his elbow and onto his stumps on the second ball of the innings. Campbell Kellaway and Test hopeful Marcus Harris followed as Starc finished with 3-20 from six overs.

It was a much-needed spell for Moises Henriques' men after they squandered a 136-run first-innings advantage having struggled mightily against the relentless medium pace of Fergus O'Neill (4-29 from 17 overs).

Fifteen wickets fell on day two with Victoria ahead by 226 at stumps after Tom Rogers (29no) and Sam Harper (26no) put on a settling 58-run partnership having come together with their side on 4-32.

"It looked like he had really good rhythm, the ball was coming through at good pace," Smith said of Starc, one of Australia's spearheads for their five-Test campaign against India this summer.

"I think the wicket sped up a bit today. He got it down at good pace and bowled some nasty balls.

"Those early wickets were crucial, we needed those. But that last hour, the wicket flattened out, there wasn't as much venom there, you didn't see as many balls go past the bat.

"It shows the wicket might be getting a bit flatter. So if we can take some early wickets and try to (keep their lead) to something under 300, it might be chaseable."

There was early anti-climax as Konstas, tipped as a Test bolter after his twin centuries against South Australia, and Smith, making a rare Shield outing shortly after his career as a Test opener was confirmed as over, managed just five runs between them.

Konstas was gone for 2 when Scott Boland (1-48 from 13 overs) got a so-so lbw shout go his way despite the teenager immediately signalling to umpire Sam Nogajski it was missing leg-stump. Replays suggested he might have had a point.

Smith meanwhile negotiated 29 balls with a series of typically extravagant leaves before gloving a catch down the leg-side off O'Neill, who bowled 10 consecutive overs before lunch.

The 23-year-old finished with the scalps of all three of the Blues' Test incumbents (Smith, Starc and Nathan Lyon), as well as their captain Henriques.

O'Neill's 21 wickets at the iconic Melbourne venue have come at just 13.24 – the lowest mark of any Shield bowler to have played there more than twice over the past decade.

"I try to make the most of it while there's still writing on the ball. A bit lucky (with some of his dismissals) but that's the game," said O'Neill.

Australia A pair Josh Philippe (45no) and Ollie Davies (37) offered resistance for the visitors, with keeper Philippe then taking a tremendous one-handed grab off Harris – his seventh catch of the match.

Earlier, Sean Abbott, the Blues' standout day-one bowler, earlier picked up a deserved fifth wicket in Victoria's first innings when Rogers (37) holed out after his side had added 13 runs to their overnight first-innings total of 9-259.