Quickly back into rhythm, paceman Josh Hazlewood has declared himself ready for Ashes Test combat after one Sheffield Shield game.
Hazlewood has been taken out of the NSW team for next week's match against Queensland, along with fellow Blues pacemen Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
The frontrunners for the pace places in the first Test team will go into camp in Brisbane, along with Tasmanian quick Jackson Bird.
While the other three have all had two Shield hitouts, Hazlewood has had a lighter preparation.
He has bowled only 43 overs in competitive cricket since returning from a side strain which forced him to return early from Australia's tour of Bangladesh in late August.
Hazlewood bowled 10 overs in a Sydney club game and 33 in his first-class comeback for NSW against Western Australia in Sydney, taking 3-49 and 3-24 from across the two innings.
"I felt the rhythm pretty early on, things went pretty well the whole game," Hazlewood said on Friday.
"From ball one, I was pretty surprised how well the ball was coming out, how good the run up felt, how good everything felt in general, so I'm pretty happy with where it's at now.
"So I don't think there's a need to play another game, I think I'm ready to go now.
"We obviously talked with the coaches and selectors and physios so everyone was on the same page."
Hazlewood felt for fellow paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile, who has been sidelined by an early stage aggravation of his old stress fracture
"I feel a bit sorry for Nath, but he's done a lot of hard work to get back from different things and I'm sure he'll put in the hard work again and come back from this one." Hazlewood said.
He was understandably less sympathetic towards the early tour fitness issues of England's fast bowlers, with Steve Finn returning home with a knee injury and Jake Ball spraining an ankle.
"They've got their own problems, but I'm sure there's a lot of depth there, so they should be able to cover it," Hazlewood said.
He wouldn't mind the player selected for Australia's contentious No.6 spot being able to bowl some overs to lighten the load on the four specialist bowlers.
"Both is ideal, runs and wickets," Hazlewood said.
'But obviously it helps with that extra bowler if he can chime in on a flat wicket and do the hard yards I guess for six or eight overs, give us a break."
