Nathan Lyon has made it through the start of his Sheffield Shield return unscathed, bowling 16 overs for NSW on the first day of the clash with Victoria.
Victoria crawled to 8-182 on a rain-affected opening day of the MCG clash, after the opening session of the match was entirely washed out.
Lyon got through his 16 overs for figures of 0-32, in what was easily his biggest in-match workload since tearing his calf during the Ashes in June.
The MCG clash is the first of up to four red-ball games Lyon can play before Australia's first Test against Pakistan in December in Perth.
The 35-year-old previously bowled eight overs in his comeback match for Northern Districts in NSW premier cricket, as well as nine in a one-day match for NSW against South Australia last Friday.
The offspinner has gone wicketless in each of those innings.
Lyon's overs came on a slow day of Shield cricket at the MCG.
Victoria faced 81 overs for their 182 runs, after losing Marcus Harris for a golden duck in the first over when he was caught at bat-pad.
Harris was one of two batters to fall to former Victorian quick Christ Tremain, who also trapped Fergus O'Neill lbw late in the day.
Ben Dwarshuis also took 3-43 to swing the day in the Blues' favour, with the left-armer taking the key scalp of Peter Handscomb for 43 when he skied a pull shot to square leg.
Travis Dean hit 39 for Victoria before he was caught at first slip off Moises Henriques, sparking a collapse from 2-106 to 7-159 in the final session.
The late wickets offer NSW hope of breaking their 14-match winless streak in the Shield, dating back to February last year.
"We're in a pretty strong position," Dwarshuis said.
"They put on a nice partnership there through the middle when it was probably toughest to bat, and then we had to work pretty hard to get back into the game."
Will Pucovski also hit 33 in his return game after being rested for Victoria's second game of the season in their loss to Queensland earlier this month.
Dropped by wicketkeeper Matthew Gilkes off Dwarshuis on 10, he eventually perished when caught behind off Jackson Bird.
