Apart from the last over of the day, bowled by Steve Waugh to the musical strains of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" coming from the small crowd, the pair spent the day fielding as their New South Wales state team fought for a place in the final of the domestic Sheffield Shield competition.

Facing a powerful Queensland batting outfit, neither risked rolling their arm over a practice both have become accustomed to in their 20 years of playing Test and one-day cricket at the highest level.

The four-day match against Queensland, being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, will help determine which state plays in the final against Victoria starting on March 12.

At stumps on the first day Queensland were 282 for six after New South Wales skipper Steve Waugh had sent them into bat.

For the Waugh brothers, it is their last match at their beloved home ground as the final, should they reach it, will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The pair are locked in a personal duel after scoring more than 50,000 first-class runs between them over 20 years, Steve, older by four minutes, is shading brother Mark in career batting averages: 52.01 to 51.98.

Both brothers, competitive since childhood, want to finish their first-class careers ahead of the other.

New South Wales and Queensland must take maximum points from the match and rely on Victoria denying Tasmania points in Hobart if either state is to have a chance of making the final.

For New South Wales, left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken, unwanted by selectors for the current Australian tour of Sri Lanka, ripped through Queensland's middle order and at one stage had figures of three wickets for one run off 24 balls.

Amongst his victims was the prized scalp of prolific run-scorer Martin Love for 52.