New South Wales 17 for 3 trail Western Australia 196 (Turner 42, Curtis 42, Bird 3-22) by 179 runs

After Western Australia was bowled out for 196 in their first innings, New South Wales slumped to 17 for 3 in the pivotal fixture.

There was much intrigue over how Konstas would approach the situation having to come out to bat an hour before stumps. He started in orthodox fashion, playing straight and hitting a couple of elegant drives. There was no sign of anything fancy in his first 15 balls but he fell in tame fashion on the next delivery when he chipped left-arm quick Joel Paris to mid-off.

Just 0.24 points separates second-placed NSW and WA with a victory for either team putting them into pole position to reach the final.

With the remarkable events of the ground's last Shield match still fresh, Edwards had no hesitation in bowling first despite the hot conditions. The calendar might have flipped into autumn, but March is essentially an extension of summer in Perth and the pitch was baking with temperatures already in the mid-30s Celsius by the time the first ball was bowled.

All eyes were on Bancroft in his long-awaited return and he was intent on showcasing his trademark steely defence against accurate new ball bowling from Bird and Edwards. WA only scored two runs off the first six overs with Edwards starting off with three consecutive maidens.

The ball wasn't quite zipping off the surface like the South Australia match, but Edwards did occasionally produce sharp bounce and he had captain Sam Whiteman fending agonisingly short of leg gully.

Whiteman had a torrid time, hit on the helmet by Hadley after attempting a pull shot before edging over the slips for a fortuitous boundary. But after battling through early trouble, Whiteman and Bancroft blunted the bowling in a sedate period through the middle part of the first session.

The hardnosed openers have a knack of leaving bowlers flustered and they appeared set to bat through the first session as NSW's quicks started to lose patience. But Liam Hatcher provided a spark 30 minutes before lunch when he nicked off Bancroft before having a huge appeal for caught down the legside off Jayden Goodwin turned down.

Goodwin made it through to the long break, but Whiteman didn't after he chopped on to a back of a length delivery from Edwards. WA reached lunch at 62 for 2 in a total that was eerily similar to the same stage of the South Australia match. On that occasion WA fell apart after the interval and there was a sense of déjà vu when they lost 3 for 27.

Edwards was in the midst of a terrific spell and had Goodwin nicking off before Hadley clean bowled Hilton Cartwright, who had an error of judgement when he didn't play a shot.

But Turner couldn't regain his rhythm after tea and he nicked off to Bird although he was unhappy with the decision. After dismissing Paris on the next delivery, Bird came within inches of completing his hat-trick when Cameron Gannon almost chopped onto his stumps.