Test spinner Nathan Lyon made a late but impressive entrance at Allan Border Field as NSW took control of their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland on Wednesday.

Lyon was kept away from the attack until the 50th over of Queensland’s innings as the Bulls finished the day 9-216 in reply to NSW’s 368.

The 25-year-old tweaker bowled well when given his chance, claiming the scalps of Bulls Chris Hartley (11) and Cameron Boyce (0) as he ended with figures of 2-10 from eight overs.

Lyon’s performance will have gone a long way to ending the debate over whether Australia will pick an all-pace attack for next week’s Ashes opener in Sydney with captain Michael Clarke watching his early overs from the boundary.

Former Test bowler Trent Copeland (5-49) was the main destroyer for the Blues, picking up his 10th first-class five-wicket haul to rip through the Bulls’ top order.

Copeland’s performance was overshadowed by Lyon’s absence from the crease, which came despite left-arm tweaker Steven O’Keefe bowling 11 wicketless overs before Australia’s No.1 spin bowler was called upon.

The Bulls, whose innings was disrupted by a rain delay around the lunch break, looked set when Usman Khawaja (58) and Greg Moller (43) added 91 for the second wicket after Joe Burns (14) was caught by Test wicketkeeper Brad Haddin off the bowling of Copeland early in the innings.

But Copeland sparked a mini-collapse where the Bulls lost three wickets for 13 runs inside four overs with Moises Henriques (1-30) chipping in with the scalp of Peter Forrest (0).

Bulls’ skipper James Hopes added 40 but none of the middle-order stayed with him to leave the hosts in a precarious situation heading into day three.