Jackson Bird is confident he's earned a spot in Australia's Test side but says he won't lose sleep waiting for the call from selectors.
Bird is competing with veteran Peter Siddle to be named as Australia's third quick behind spearhead Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for next week's first Test against South Africa in Perth.
The 195cm seamer pressed his case on Wednesday with an impressive spell for Tasmania in their Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria at the MCG.
Bird finished day two of the day-night match with figures of 3-75 off 30 overs as Victoria were bowled out for 415 in their first innings.
The 29-year-old claimed the important scalp of Cameron White (68) and dismissed Dan Christian cheaply with a ripping outswinger which caught the allrounder's edge.
Bird was pleased with his bowling performance but says he won't allow himself to stress about Test selection after letting it get to him during a disappointing one-day cup.
"It probably affected my performance in a negative way thinking about that rather than focusing on the cricket," he said on Wednesday night.
"I've learned in the past not to worry about it because it does your head in if you're sitting around the phone waiting for a call.
"Hopefully I do get the call. I was bit sore after last night and I felt like my pace was pretty good today. I thought the ball came out nicely today after a big workload yesterday."
Bird said he would manage his workload for the remainder of the match if named for the Test but admitted he wasn't sure when he'd find out ahead of the team being named on Friday.
"Hopefully if I do get picked, I'll know soon so I don't bowl 60 overs in this match, which I could do," he joked.
Tasmania will resume their first innings on Thursday at 4-93, trailing Victoria by 322 runs after Siddle helped to dismantle the visitors' batting order.
Siddle finished a short but sharp spell with 1-17 off 10 overs, his breakthrough coming in the 22nd over when Beau Webster (20) made the disastrous decision to leave a sharp delivery which nipped back and hit off stump.
It was a solid return to first-class cricket for Siddle, who has come back ahead of schedule after suffering a stress fracture in his back in February.
