Australian cricketer Bryce McGain remains confident about his bowling and hopeful about his Ashes selection chances, despite the mauling he suffered in his debut Test.

The South Africans treated the leg spinner with contempt in the third and final Test of the series a few days ago, belting him for 0-149 off only 18 overs.

While the Australians won the series 2-1, McGain missed his flight to South Africa because he slept in.

He then had limited playing opportunities ahead of his disastrous Test debut.

But McGain, always an upbeat character, was smiling and level-headed when he fronted the media on Wednesday evening upon his return to Melbourne.

“It certainly doesn’t knock around my confidence too much in that sometimes this happens in cricket,” McGain said.

“Maybe not quite as expensive as that, but there are times you are bowling and it doesn’t matter what you try, it seems the batsmen are a page ahead.”

McGain said he had spoken to national selector Merv Hughes after the third Test and had received plenty of encouragement from him, but they had not discussed the Ashes.

The problem for McGain is he is unlikely to play any cricket before the Ashes squad is named.

His plan is to keep training in Melbourne and if possible pick up some sort of contract with an English county side.

“The way it works is you wait for the selectors to make their decisions … hopefully I am a part of that but it’s out of my hands,” McGain said.

He admits his debut will not have helped his cause.

“I am sure it comes into consideration … I am still pretty upbeat and positive about what I can do and still believe I can bowl well,” he said.

McGain said he had also received a supportive text message from Australian leg spin legend Shane Warne who also went for plenty of runs in his Test debut.

McGain said there were no on-going problems with his shoulder, which needed surgery late last year and put him out of action for much of the Australian summer.

He said the South African batsmen had clearly targeted him and there was not much he could do.

McGain added he had reviewed his bowling performance within a couple of days and felt there were only a few things that he could have done differently.

“Just whatever I tried, it did not work,” he said.

© AAP 2012

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