Ashton Agar sees no reason why he can't remain a fixture of Australia's white-ball teams, despite losing his national contract and becoming a freelance cricketer.
Agar admitted his relief on being in the Caribbean for next month's Twenty20 World Cup, after a persistent calf injury ruled him out of last year's one-day tournament.
The same issue then derailed the start of Agar's summer, with the 30-year-old having not played a game for Australia in any format since September.
And while he can see a clear upside given the injury allowed him to spend more time with his newborn son, it has impacted his cricket.
The left-arm spinner subsequently dropped off Cricket Australia's contract list for the first time since 2019-20, and was overlooked for home white-ball matches.
But regardless, Agar said he was always confident of being part of Australia's squad for the T20 World Cup on the spinning wickets of the Caribbean.
"No, not at all (was I concerned)," Agar told AAP from the launch of rights-holders Amazon's T20 World Cup coverage in Barbados.
"There was a lot of positive communication around the World Cup throughout the whole summer, and even around the contracts too.
"There's only one white-ball spinner contracted at the moment, which is Zamps (Adam Zampa). That's just the nature of playing a lot of games in Australia.
"When the opportunity comes to play two spinners, I back myself in to play that role. But it's all conditions-dependent.
"And to be honest, that's how it's been for a long time. The only reason I found myself out of that set-up was purely because of my injury."
Agar's demotion from CA's contract list also prompted him not to take up a state deal with Western Australia, allowing him to become a T20 gun for hire.
The tweaker is hopeful that will give him even more time to improve his bowling in white-ball formats, ahead of the Champions Trophy next year in spin-friendly Pakistan, as well as more T20 cricket.
"You can specialise probably a little bit more (without a state contract), particularly with the way batting is going in T20 cricket," Agar said.
"We saw it in the IPL. There's only one way you can go (with more runs being scored). And the formats are growing so far apart, hat's becoming really obvious.
"So the decision gives me the chance to do that a bit more.
"If I do get the chance to play a Shield game for Western Australia, I'll take the opportunity. But that's certainly not the be-all-and-end-all of my cricket anymore."
