Australia wicketkeeper Tim Paine hopes to quickly regain his confidence as he continues his return from a finger injury.
The Tasmanian, selected in the Australia A team to tour England in July and August, has emerged as a potential selection for Australia's home series against South Africa later this year.
Australia captain Michael Clarke has said Paine is in contention, making the wicketkeeping scenario all the more intriguing with Brad Haddin and Matthew Wade also battling for the gloves.
Paine, who has undergone multiple surgeries to repair a broken right index finger, said he was unsure what his confidence would be like on his return.
"I think we probably won't know until I go back out catching cricket balls whether it has affected my confidence or not," he said.
"Certainly I'm hoping not. I've watched a hell of a lot of cricket over the last 16 to 18 months, I'm certainly ready to get back out.
"I think it'll take time to get that confidence right back to where it was."
Paine has started catching and hitting tennis balls, before he moves onto the kanga ball and then the harder cricket ball.
The 27-year-old said the injury had forced him to change his batting grip, but added it was only a minor adjustment.
"I have to hold the bat slightly differently because of all the padding and tape on the fingers," Paine said.
"It's not a technical thing I've had to change, I just have a lot more padding now so the bat sits differently in the hand. It'll take time to adjust but it's nothing major."
Paine, who is preparing for the tour of England at Brisbane's Centre of Excellence, said he was eager to return to the form which saw him touted as Haddin's replacement in the Australian Test team.
"I'm going to have a really good build-up to that series here, by the time I get to England I expect to be playing as well as I was two years ago," he said.
"My goal is to score a lot of runs, keep well and put my name back up for selection for Australia in any form of the game."
