Fast bowler Gerard Denton notched best bowling figures for his adopted state as Victoria fought back to claim first-day honours over Tasmania in the Pura Cup cricket match at the Junction Oval.

On a day where illness and dropped catches conspired against the Bushrangers early, Denton's 4-51 kept alive Victoria's aim of gaining outright points against the bottom-placed side and moving a step closer to hosting the final.

Victoria bowled Tasmania out for 295, and seven wickets in the final session might be the springboard to a first outright win at the Junction in 15 years.

Denton, who played eight seasons for Tasmania before heading across Bass Strait, struck significant blows at the bookends of the day.

He had David Dawson padding up second ball of the day and then knocked over Brett Geeves and Brendan Drew in successive balls in the 89th over to ensure his adopted state finished on top.

Denton relished the chance to bowl fast against his old teammates - giving Geeves a nice send-off for his troubles - and narrowly missed a hat-trick, as his away-swinger was centimetres away from bowling No.10 Adam Griffith.

"It spurs you on a little bit," said Denton of bowling against his former teammates.

"It would have been really nice to have taken five, but I lost a bit of steam there at the end.

"But it was a good result to bowl them out for under 300."

As Denton rests up on Tuesday, Victoria's batsmen face a litmus test with Brad Hodge and Jason Arnberger not there to steady the top order, both glaring absentees because of the flu.

The pair were ill overnight and withdrew from the match on Monday morning.

The withdrawals and four spilled chances in the first two sessions gave the impression this match was going to be a frustrating one for the top side, particularly as Michael Di Venuto and Travis Birt batted Tasmania to the brink of safety.

Di Venuto (96) fell four short of back-to-back hundreds and Birt (89) - also playing his native state - had a hundred in his sights before he crept down the wicket to Shane Warne and was stumped.

The pair's dismissals allowed Victoria to prise the door open.

George Bailey's (49) decision to pad up to Warne was costly, and his departure was the first in a collapse of 5-20, which gave Victoria the honours when the day was there for Tasmania's taking.

"They batted well up to lunch, Di Venuto and Birt, because it was swinging around," Denton said.

"But we dropped a couple of catches so it could have been three or four, maybe five (wickets down) at lunch.

"But we came back beautifully, got wickets at the right times and under 300 on that sort of wicket, we think it's only going to get better."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP