Test opener Chris Rogers is unbeaten on 52 after Victoria struggled to a score of 6-148 at tea on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash with NSW.

Young paceman Sean Abbott (3-49) claimed three of the four wickets to fall in the middle session at the MCG.

Rogers had batted for four hours, reaching his half-century shortly before tea and hitting four boundaries off 170 deliveries.

Allrounder John Hastings was one not out.

After choosing to bat first in sunny conditions, Victoria recovered from 2-25 to reach a painfully slow 2-59 at lunch with Rogers on 13.

The Bushrangers lost the early wickets of Rob Quiney (six) and Peter Handscomb (nine) to pacemen Doug Bollinger and Gurinder Sandhu.

Cameron White and Rogers added 67 for the third wicket before Abbott yorked White (48) and Aaron Finch (0) in consecutive deliveries.

White hit eight fours from 104 deliveries and fell two runs shy of his third half-century in three Shield innings this season.

The 21-year-old seamer Abbott struck again with the score on 112 when Matthew Wade (nine) was caught behind attempting a hook shot.

David Hussey (13) was bowled by spinner Steve O’Keefe in the final over before tea.

Test tweaker Nathan Lyon had 0-38 off 19 overs.