Paceman Mitchell Starc has admitted his form wasn't up to scratch leading up to his omission from Australia's one-day international side but is confident he's on the right track.
The New South Wales quick played in Australia's first five Commonwealth Bank Series matches but was left out of the squad for the games in Hobart on Friday and Sydney on Sunday, with Ryan Harris coming back into the squad.
That allowed Starc to return to the Blues fold and he made an impressive comeback in their Ryobi Cup four-wicket bonus-point win over Western Australia on Wednesday, taking 4-39 off 11.4 overs.
The left-armer showed glimpses in the CBS, but he admitted his return of five wickets at a strike-rate of 43 and economy-rate of 5.58 was disappointing.
But Starc was confident he could show enough in upcoming domestic matches to get back in the Australian side in time for the upcoming West Indies tour.
"I had a pretty lengthy conversation with Mickey Arthur the other day leading up to this game. They're pretty happy with how I've been coming along and I'm just trying to improve at every chance I get," he said.
"Someone had to miss out and my returns weren't what I would have liked them to be."
"I've been dropped and I've got a long way to go with my bowling and a lot to learn."
"But I'm only 22 ... and if someone had told me at this time last season I'd have played three tests and [seven] one-dayers for Australia by now I'd have laughed at them."
"There's been no talk about the West Indies so far, they're pretty focused on winning this tri-series. I've got to just keep doing what I've been doing and hopefully I can get to the West Indies."
Starc's strong showing on Wednesday helped NSW dismiss WA for just 151 and, although they made hard work of it, they got there thanks largely to Phil Hughes' unbeaten half-century.
Starc said it was important for the Blues to bounce back straight away from their humiliating innings and 323 run loss inside three days to the Warriors in the Bupa Sheffield Shield.
"There's been a lot of talking through the week and the boys were pretty keen to get out there and put a good performance together and I think we did that with the ball," he said.
"It was probably a tough win, but one we can take confidence out of for next week."
NSW, who are out of finals contention, next face Queensland in the Shield on March 1.
