He is 33 years old and did not feature for Australia at all last summer but Usman Khawaja is confident he can earn yet another Test recall.
The Queensland captain has not played for his country since being axed during last year's Ashes series in England.
Having experienced the agony of losing his Test spot and then forcing his way back in several times over his career, Khawaja said he still harbours hope of pulling on the Baggy Green cap once again.
"That's the first goal. If you don't believe it (then) it's very hard for things to happen," Khawaja said.
"I'm going to be doing everything I can and doing things right for myself and Queensland to get to that point."
Since debuting against England in Sydney in January 2011, Khawaja's 44-Test career has been largely stop-start and he was not offered a Cricket Australia contract in April.
But the left-hander's past experiences in regaining his spot give him the belief he can do something similar next summer, although he knows he needs to improve after scoring just 202 runs at 18.36 in 11 innings in last season's Sheffield Shield.
"The biggest thing for me is making sure that I'm consistently scoring runs and if I am no one can drop me ... bang the door down, they have to pick me," he said.
"I've been dropped probably more than anyone has, I reckon, that's playing at the moment.
"I've learned a lot from those experiences. I've learned to understand where I need to focus my attention and where I don't need to focus my attention."
Cricket is unlikely to be the focus, though, in the short term, with Khawaja and wife Rachel expecting their first child next month.
The baby's gender has been kept a surprise and an excited Khawaja admits that is just one of the unknowns he is heading into.
"It's like your Test debut," he said. "You're never ready, you've just got to go in there."
Australian Associated Press
