A three-day Sheffield Shield match seems assured after 13 wickets fell on day two at the Gabba with conditions offering little help to Australia's Test batsmen.

Test stars Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne were unable to lift Queensland out of the mire against New South Wales as 13 wickets fell on a challenging Gabba wicket.

The home side ended day two of their Sheffield Shield clash at a shaky 5-105, just 112 runs clear of the Blues.

Khawaja, who top-scored in the first innings with 63, can count himself unlucky after falling to an outstanding leg-side catch from young NSW wicketkeeper Baxter Holt.

Labuschagne (44) looked set to be unbeaten at the close, only to also fall to a spectacular catch, this time from Tanveer Sangha at deep square leg, off the bowling of Harry Conway (2-11).

Jimmy Peirson (3) and Jack Wildermuth (0) are the unbeaten batsmen with just the tail to come for the home side.

If the winless NSW do collect a win in Brisbane it will surely be down to stand-in captain Daniel Hughes.

With NSW missing up to nine first-choice players due to a combination of injury and Australia's upcoming series against Sri Lanka, Hughes was named skipper in place of the absent Kurtis Patterson.

Hughes duly delivered a captain's knock in the Blues' first outing of the calendar year, carrying his bat throughout the innings for an unbeaten 86.

The opener's 155-ball innings included 14 boundaries and is only the second half-century of the contest.

NSW appeared in freefall at 7-86, only for No.9 Chris Tremain (37) to support Hughes in a match-high - and potentially match-winning - 66-run stand.

Michael Neser impressed ahead of the Pakistan tour with 3-68, but it was fellow quick Mark Steketee who took the bowling honours.

Steketee swept through the tail to add to his two wickets on day one for a return of 5-46.

Queensland went into the contest in second with two wins from their five outings, while NSW are yet to get off the mark after three matches.