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Perth fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile fears his window of opportunity into the Test team may have closed.
However, the Scorchers’ ice man has dusted off the disappointment and is focused on clinching Friday’s Big Bash League final against Hobart at the WACA and later spearheading the Australian attack at the World Twenty20 in March.
Coulter-Nile was part of the Test squad during the Ashes summer, and was in serious contention to take on the world No.1 Proteas in South Africa in February.
But Jackson Bird and James Pattinson returned from injury to earn selection in the bowling attack before him.
And when allrounder James Faulkner went down with injury on the eve of the team flying out, selectors chose Moises Henriques as his replacement rather than calling on the big-hitting Coulter-Nile.
“I think with every day I slip away because blokes come back from injury,” Coulter-Nile told AAP.
“Patto, Birdy and now we see Starcy (Mitchell Starc) back bowling well, so that’s (Test honours) starting to get further and further away.”
The 24-year-old can’t help but lament that a golden chance may gone, but at the same time his omission has opened other doors.
After successfully closing out the Big Bash League semi-final against the Sydney Sixers on Wednesday night with a composed final over, Coulter-Nile is now looking to take the Scorchers from perennial bridesmaids to finally winning a Twenty20 crown.
Coulter-Nile is a leading contender for the World T20 in Bangladesh, but on Friday he’ll be looking to dismantle his Australian captain George Bailey.
The in-form batsman is in red-hot form after match-winning innings against England and then in the Hurricanes’ semi-final win over the Melbourne Stars, but Coulter-Nile says there’s a confidence about the Scorchers.
“George Bailey is obviously a very good batter, but we’ll come up with something for him, don’t worry,” he said.
“We get better every year as a unit knowing each other’s game, and none of us really panic these times. I think early on in the first year we panicked a little bit (in the final against the Sixers) and the second year (Brisbane) were just too good for us.”
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