Australian leg spinner Stuart MacGill returned from injury to take two wickets for NSW on day two of the Pura Cup clash against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval.

The lacklustre Tigers were trailing the Blues by 223 runs at stumps, finishing on 5-230, and need another 74 to avoid the follow-on.

The Blues started out on 5-408 after a hard-hitting 271-run partnership on day one from an in-form skipper Steve Waugh (157) and vice-captain Simon Katich (171).

Firing off 45 runs, NSW declared half an hour into the first session for a fighting chance at an outright result on the batsman-friendly pitch.

The Tigers got off to a woeful start in reply, losing opener Jamie Cox for a duck to paceman Matthew Nicholson after he faced seven balls in five minutes.

Cox was the Tigers' top-scorer against South Australia last week with 119.

All-rounder Shane Watson also missed his mark.

After scoring 103 last week against the Redbacks, he fell lbw for 37 to MacGill.

It was MacGill's first appearance since sustaining a calf injury in the first Test against Zimbabwe last month.

MacGill later bagged Michael Dighton (16) who was caught by Nicholson running from mid-off.

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