Marcus Stoinis might not enjoy taking wickets as much as batting but doing so could thrust him into Test calculations despite Western Australia being on the verge of losing to Victoria in the Sheffield Shield.
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Stoinis performed well for Australia in the one-dayers against England and the Twenty20 tri-series that also involved New Zealand.
Add to that a Big Bash League campaign with the Melbourne Stars and it's a long time since the 28-year-old had seen a red ball.
He made 33 and nine with the Warriors staring down the barrel of a big loss.
The hosts finished Monday's day three at 8-161 chasing 469 to win but he has been their standout bowler with seven wickets for the match.
Stoinis, who was seen as a realistic option for the Ashes at the No.6 spot, is now out to prove that he can be more than a Twenty20 and one-day player for Australia.
While he would like to bang down the door through weight of runs, it may be wickets that help his cause most.
"It was good to bowl, I haven't bowled that much in a long time," Stoinis said
"Bowling 40 overs in the game after being used to four overs in Twenty20 is a nice change.
"It was fun to contribute with the ball and it doesn't feel as good as it does to contributing with the bat to me, but it's still all right.
"It's good to get a good crack with the red ball and I probably have to reassess how I feel about bowling in comparison to batting.
"I just hate not getting runs and that still eats me up so it's a tick in one box and not so much in the other."
The Warriors will almost certainly need to win their last two Shield clashes - against Queensland and South Australia - to advance to next month's final.
"This game hasn't gone how we wanted but we have two games to go," Stoinis said.
"This next game is big for us because barring a miracle this one is done. We don't want our season ending yet."
Australian Associated Press