Ellyse Perry has set her sights on winning back her spot in Australia's Twenty20 team as she edges closer to full fitness and a return to bowling.
Perry has not played in a T20 for Australia since last October, having been picked in squads but overlooked for selection in three straight series.
The two most recent of those have coincided with stress fractures in Perry's back preventing her from bowling, an issue she hopes is remedied before the home summer.
At age 31, Perry remains a force in Australia's one-day team.
She averaged 54.33 in Australia's World Cup success last summer, while also taking five wickets at 27.40 before the injury issues flared up.
Back on the park for the first time since, Perry hit 58 from 31 balls and 39 off 28 in two games in The Hundred for Birmingham this week.
Australia's next cricket is in the form of five T20s in India in December and also host Pakistan for three T20s and three ODIs in January.
While Perry is adamant she has nothing to prove with her Hundred form, the country's leading wicket-taker in T20s is still hopeful of having a role to play in the format.
"The game in the women's side of things seems to grow and improve so quickly that you've got to stay up to pace with it," Perry said.
"And certainly, I'd love to still be involved in particularly the Australian team.
"It's still very much the pinnacle of our sport, playing international cricket and just seeing how that has sort of transformed in the last couple of years."
Perry has confirmed she will return to the Sydney Sixers this summer in the Women's Big Bash League, signing a one-year deal with the club.
Having moved to Victoria for state cricket in 2019-20, Perry said there had been no push from officials to have her play for either the Renegades or Stars.
And nor would she have been interested in leaving the Sixers, eager to spend time back in Sydney with family and at the club she has been with since the start of the WBBL.
The quick is also hopeful of bowling again by the time of the Sixers' first game against Brisbane on October 13, with four WNCL rounds before that.
"I have started bowling in training off a few steps," Perry said.
"That's with the plan being to progress that intensity over the coming weeks and hopefully be pretty much available to bowl once our summer starts back home."
