The one who could have played 40 Tests instead of four, or worn the baggy green for years rather than months. He now has that chance to make up for the time he lost to a badly broken finger he suffered in an exhibition game in 2010.

The injury has required seven operations and three bone grafts. He has had to change his grip because he could no longer hold the bat the way he once did. Even now, it aches in the Hobart chill.

Paine's stunning recall came as a shock even to the man himself. At the end of last season he came perilously close to calling it quits and heading to the mainland to take up a full-time job with cricket goods manufacturer Kookaburra.

"Pretty happy right now I didn't," Paine said.

He rang family and friends, some of whom told him it was time to think of life after cricket. One of them was his uncle, Robert Shaw, the former Fitzroy and Adelaide coach in the AFL.

Paine's response gives an insight to the attitude of the man who has overcome a potentially career-ending injury and numerous setbacks to resurrect a Test career many had thought was over.

"He said 'no, if I get a chance, I can do it'," Shaw recalled. But what about Matthew Wade, the then national wicketkeeper who was heading back home from Victoria, Shaw countered.

"I'll wait my turn. Wadey will be in the Test team and I'll keep for Tasmania. "He said to himself 'I'll give myself two years and I'll make it back'."

The break came when a broom was put through Cricket Tasmania. CT's new chief Nick Cummins, who oversaw Sydney Thunder's rise from easybeats to champions, was desperate to keep Paine.

Cummins had been surprised the veteran, with only eight Shield appearances since the start of the 2015/16 season, had not been give more opportunities and saw in him qualities that he believed were important in rebuilding Tasmania's team.

He was also still on the radar of national selectors, who picked him for the Twenty20s in February and for the matches in Sri Lanka.

"He really wasn't enjoying his four-day or state cricket all that much," Cummins said. "When we spoke to him it wasn't saying he would be our first-choice keeper. It was more highlighting what you want to get out of your last part of your career. I was trying to encourage him to be a part of a transition into the next golden era of Tasmanian cricket."

Paine has worked closely with the state's batting coach Jeff Vaughan, a former state player for South Australia, in a bid to regain the form of his early days. One of the knocks against Paine has been his batting, which has produced only one first-class century from 91 games.

Vaughan studied footage of Paine batting in the late 2000s when he made 215 in a Shield game and a Test 92 in India. He found that Paine was now responding later, not moving until three or four frames in, whereas previously he had begun moving as the ball was released, which gave him the momentum to move back or forward as required.

"I've worked extremely hard over the last nine months. Having Jeff Vaughan come down from South Australia has been fantastic," Paine said. "I certainly feel much more comfortable with my batting and confident I can play a role."

Much of the shock around Paine's selection is the fact he was not keeping for his state. While some believe that does not bode well for his work behind the stumps at the Gabba, many in the game have long regarded him as the best gloveman in the country.

Back in green and gold: Tim Paine in Australian colours for the shorter format of the game.

Paine's faith in his glove work has not wavered. It's believed the national hierarchy was most impressed with his work in Sri Lanka.

Paine now has the chance to be Australia's keeper in all three forms of the game - a scenario few imagined possible only a week ago.

"Seven years ago I was playing Test and one-day cricket. I always dreamt - it probably was a dream - that I could get back there," Paine said.

"To get that news last night is amazing reward for the hard work that I've put in. It's now back in my hand, which is a great thing. Who knows, it's my opportunity to make the most of."