Nathan Lyon has reached out to coach Andrew McDonald to express interest in joining Australia's World Cup squad in India in the event of more injuries.
Australia's greatest-ever Test off-spinner, Lyon suffered a serious calf strain during the second Ashes Test at Lords in late June and has not played since.
The 35-year-old began a long recovery period but has since resumed bowling and will make his return to the pitch through premier cricket on October 14.
He is aiming to make his NSW comeback in the Marsh Cup match against Adelaide on October 20 and put a frustrating four months behind him once and for all.
"It was very challenging at the start, when the guys were still playing in the Ashes. I found myself struggling quite a fair bit just mentally," he said.
"But apart from that, rehab, calf stuff's been going really well. It's been a nice break."
Ashton Agar withdrew from Australia's World Cup squad with a calf injury late last month, leaving Adam Zampa the only specialist tweaker for the tournament in spin-friendly India.
Batter Glenn Maxwell is another spin option, as will be Travis Head if he recovers from a fractured hand in time.
Lyon would be keen to be considered for a call-up if more injuries meant Australia needed a deeper spin rotation.
"I sent Andrew McDonald a text message the other day when Ashton Agar was ruled out and said, 'just so you know, I'm back bowling. I'm right to go'," he said.
"If that happens, I'd do anything to go over and play in the World Cup."
Lyon has made a name for himself internationally in the longest format of the game across 122 Tests but has represented Australia in white-ball cricket on 31 occasions.
The most recent of his 29 ODI caps came during the 2019 World Cup in England.
"I'd be more than comfortable going in and doing it if I had to," Lyon said.
"But in saying that, there's got to be a lot of things go wrong. Let's hope for Australia's sake that doesn't happen.
"Hopefully they go out there and have a really good campaign."
Maxwell earned player-of-the-match honours for taking four wickets in his most recent ODI appearance against India last month, while Head found success rolling the arm over on tour in Sri Lanka last year.
Lyon backed the pair to put in significant shifts.
"I feel like Maxy's skillset is up there. He's extremely confident in his skillset, so 100 per cent I'm backing his skillset to do the job there," he said.
"When Travis Head comes back, when he's fit, I daresay his off-breaks would be able to be quite effective as well."
