Victoria declares with lead in Sheffield Shield clash against NSW Dan Christian of Victoria hits a six as wicketkeeper Peter Nevill of New South Wales looks on. The cricketing talent pool in NSW is remarkably deep - but Victoria's batsmen proved it is not bottomless. The Blues have begun their Sheffield Shield season with 14 Australian-capped players unavailable due to either international selection or injury. They still boasted classy players such as Josh Hazlewood, Gurinder Sandhu and Peter Nevill, yet the holes left by the exodus of first-choice players could be not filled completely. Century-makers David Hussey (129), Peter Handscomb (108 not out) and Daniel Christian (105 not out) deserved the most plaudits for Victoria's first-innings total of 5-507 when it declared nearing tea on day three at the MCG. What helped them prosper so effortlessly were the visitors' conspicuous weaknesses in spin, and the lack of a fourth seam-bowling option. Victoria's Peter Handscomb celebrates after reaching his century on Sunday. With one day remaining the Blues' primary goal will be to secure the one point now on offer for a draw. They will resume at 2-106, still trailing by 35, with Scott Henry on 18 and nightwatchman Will Somerville on 1. Pitch conditions should be conducive to NSW's ambitions for survival. Handscomb said it was "very, very good wicket . . . I don't think it's going to break up too much over the course of the game. Sandhu, who spent much of the day bowling on it, agreed. "You can take from the past few days that it hasn't really changed a lot, so I think we're going to come back expecting a similar pitch," he said. NSW began day three needing to bowl only 11 overs before taking the second new ball to be available. Given left-armer Josh Lalor's inability to threaten at all - he went wicketless across 27 overs - it was up to Hazlewood and Sandhu to fill those roles and be fresh to do so, but by the time it was available they had already bowled five overs between them. That Ben Rohrer, with a grand total of 28 shield overs in his career, was given an over - he conceded 14 - underlined the lack of bowling depth. All-rounders Moises Henriques and Sean Abbott were not the biggest names missing, but either would have made a big positive difference. "If you had one of those guys it would have been helpful, like always," said Sandhu, who claimed a team-best 3-96. Captain Nevill could not afford to bowl debutant spinners Will Somerville and Patrick Jackson in tandem. Neither got the ball to turn Off-spinner Somerville (0-104 from 24 overs) was accurate without being threatening. Left-arm tweaker Jackson started similarly but lost that accuracy in his final spell, culminating in the ugly figures of 0-91 from 14. Resuming batsmen Hussey and Matthew Wade (59) added only 23 runs between them. Nevertheless their replacements Handscomb and Christian were up to the task of not only taking Victoria to 5-385 for the 100-over window for bonus points, generating 1.85 points compared to only 0.76 from NSW for the same period, but also of giving it a healthy first-innings lead. Handscomb scored a century in his fourth shield match, in early 2012, but then failed to replicate that feat in the eight times since then he reached 50. That the 23-year-old made amends on Saturday, scored his first home century. "It's an amazing feeling, getting one at the 'G," Handscomb said. I've struggled to get from 50 to 100 so it's just a relief, [a weight lifted] from the shoulders, to actually get it done. Christian rode his luck in reaching his first century for the Bushrangers, and first in the shield for three years, having offered at least three tough catching opportunities. Of his six sixes the best was when he blasted a Lalor delivery straight back over the bowler's head, nearly into the second tier of the members' stand. His partnership with Handscomb reaped 206 runs from 255 deliveries. "It's awesome batting up the other end to him," Handscomb said of witnessing Christian's six sixes. It [his lusty hitting] takes the pressure right off you. The recent record of the MCG's drop-in pitches remaining great for batting on day four likely loomed large in the thinking of Bushrangers captain Wade when he declared 25 overs into the second session, with a lead of 141. The early tea break gave Victoria an extended 43-over final session in which to make inroads into the NSW batting line-up. Victoria was made to wait until the 27th over to get a breakthrough, when first-gamer played both too late and down the wrong line to John Hastings and was bowled for 25. The Blues made no attempt at replicating Victoria's lively run-rate from earlier in the day, understandably prioritising survival giving their lack of batting depth and the new lure of a point for a draw. Former Bushrangers wicketkeeper Ryan Carters, playing for the Blues as a specialist batsman, came close to offering a short-leg chance off Chris Tremain on five and on 23 was dropped by Wade, from a low chance that came from an inside edge off Scott Boland. He was generally comfortably otherwise - until he fell in the second-last over of the day for 58, fending Marcus Stoinis to Christian at gully.