NSW is held together by Moises Henriques' 95 while Kelly is injured and WA loses

With Kelly out with a pec injury, Paris and Rocchiccioli each took three wickets before the skipper rallied NSW out of trouble.

Western Australia 256 (Whiteman 107, Philippe 52*, Green 3-33, Bird 3-37) leads New South Wales 244 for 7 (Henriques 95, Paris 3-45, Rocchiccioli 3-96) by 12 runs.

On the second day of their Sheffield Shield match in Perth, skipper Moises Henriques took advantage of a shorthanded attack by Western Australia after quick Matt Kelly hurt his pectoral muscle on his return. New South Wales mounted a comeback.

On a green-tinged WACA surface, NSW were 106 for 5 in reply to WA's first innings of 256, but Henriques led from the front with a determined 95 off 210 balls. With three wickets remaining, NSW trailed by just 12 runs at the close of play.

Despite replays suggesting the ball struck his pad, Henriques was wrongly adjudged caught behind off seamer Charlie Stobo, spoiling his chance to score his first century of the Shield season.

Kelly left the field after just seven overs of bowling. Joel Paris, an off-spinner, and Corey Rocchiccioli, a left-arm quick, shared the burden and each took three wickets.

Due to Cameron Green and Aaron Hardie's participation in the West Indies ODI series, Australia's bowling options were limited going into the match as Kelly is unlikely to bowl again.

After Stobo gathered the ball back in his follow-through and threw it towards the stumps, seemingly in an attempt to run out Chris Green, who patted the ball away, tensions in the game escalated late in the day's play. WA then filed an appeal for obstructing the field. After a brief discussion, the umpires decided that Green would stay at the crease.

"He [Green] basically just defended himself in terms of getting the bat down," Henriques stated. "I have no idea what else he's supposed to do. It is perfectly legitimate for them [WA] to pose the query. I believe that the choice was made correctly."

Captain Sam Whiteman felt WA was in a strong position after his outstanding century on the opening day and said the batting conditions would only get harder as the game went on.

When Paris and Kelly bowled economical lengths outside the off-stump with the new ball, his prediction proved to be accurate. After missing the entire domestic season with a calf injury, there had been much anticipation for Kelly's long-awaited return.

Kelly, who was prominent with six wickets in the Shield final against Victoria last year, has been a consistent performer in recent seasons despite being frequently overshadowed by Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson.

As wicketkeeper Josh Philippe completed a spectacular diving take down the leg-side, Kelly's first delivery swung wildly off a length and close to Ryan Hackney's gloves, almost ruining the perfect start.

But before Paris took over and removed Hackney and Dan Hughes to leave NSW in disarray at 13 for 2, Kelly was let down when his loud cry for being caught behind was ignored.

From the Lillee-Marsh end, Paris was unrelenting and kept hitting a difficult length during their nearly unplayable opening spell of 2 for 4 from six overs.

As the first-change bowler, Stobo bowled four straight maidens, giving NSW no break. Blake Nikitaras, the opener, was pinned to the crease and unable to move the strike as NSW staggered to 29 runs off the first 21 overs.

Within the first hour of play, Rocchiccioli, as he usually does, challenged left-handed hitters Nikitaras and Matthew Gilkes with bounce and turn. It was merely a question of time until Rocchiccioli made his move, removing Gilkes and Nikitaras before lunch.

Henriques made a shaky start and made it through a few half-hearted attempts before settling in with an explosive Ollie Davies, who hit three exquisite drives off of one over from Rocchiccioli. NSW was badly behind in the first innings after Davies raced to 21 but fell victim to Paris' accuracy and edged to first slip.

Henriques, however, received assistance from all-rounder Jack Edwards, which made Whiteman switch back to Hilton Cartwright, an all-rounder who played two Test matches for Australia in 2017 but doesn't bowl much these days.

He discovered that there was no surface tension and confidently used lbw shouts to get Henriques and Edwards to settle down and appear relaxed after tea. Together, they made 83 before Rocchiccioli tricked Edwards by using flight as he was about to slip.

Day one ended with a rush of wickets, but Henriques held strong until right before the end, keeping this see-saw match in a balanced position.