Steve Smith says he's been unshackled from his "Mr Fix-it" role for Australia in recent years and is excited to play freely ahead of the T20 World Cup.
The former captain opened his summer account on Sunday with an unbeaten 48 off 80 balls in the Aussies' five wicket win over Zimbabwe.
While five more ODIs are to come against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in north Queensland, Smith is also focused on a World Cup on home soil in October-November.
Smith said he'd been able to play more aggressively since a shift away from his status as the lynchpin of the Australian line-up, seen on the tour of Sri Lanka earlier this winter.
"The role that I've been given the last couple of years is kind of the Mr Fix-it sort of role, and that tag's been taken away from me now for the Sri Lanka tour," he told reporters ahead of Wednesday's second ODI against Zimbabwe in Townsville.
"I felt like I could go out and just play with a lot more freedom and naturally, and not have any kind of hesitation in the back of my mind like I need to be a bit more reserved or anything.
"I can just take the game on and if I want to smack someone for six first ball, then you know, I'm able to do that freely.
"When I'm playing my best, I play freely. I watch the ball and hit the gaps and just look to use the middle of my bat as much as possible.
"So yeah, I'm happy the tag's been removed."
Smith is still smarting from Cricket Australia's controversial decision to prevent him from making rare appearances for the Sydney Sixers in the BBL playoffs last summer, after Australia's T20 series with New Zealand was cancelled due to COVID-19.
He said his participation with the Sixers in the coming season was still to be determined, due to his other cricketing commitments.
"I think my T20 cricket probably hasn't been as good as I would have liked to have been, so I wanted to get some cricket in to prepare for that (Sri Lanka) series," he said.
"And to not be allowed to play in my domestic tournament, that was the most disappointing thing for me.
"We'll see where things land (for this summer's BBL). But we've got a few options of things I can do in that period of time."
Australia seeks to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series against Zimbabwe on Wednesday after their five wicket victory in Sunday's opener.
Towering seamer Blessing Muzarabani has a chance of playing for the visitors after missing their recent series against Bangladesh and India due to a muscle tear in his thigh.
For Australia, allrounder Mitch Marsh has returned to Perth due to ankle soreness. Josh Inglis joins the squad as his replacement.
Wednesday's match begins at 9.40am AEST.
