He is under no illusions he can't play every game as a fast bowler born into a world of managing workloads, but Mitchell Starc knows the Australian cricket teams needs him now more than ever.
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A text message from the owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders is a harsh way to learn you have been released from your $1.8 million IPL contract - but the timing arguably couldn't have been better.
Starc could still nominate for the next IPL auction but bypassing the frenzy will allow the 28-year-old to tune up for a six-Test summer, next year's World Cup and an Ashes tour.
Sustained success looks a world away for an Australian team in transition but Starc is relishing the added pressure of having to lift without the nation's two premier batsmen in Steve Smith and David Warner.
Starc and fellow spearhead Pat Cummins joined Smith for lunch in the SCG cafe on Wednesday and talk inevitably drifted to the World Cup and Australia's potential XI. But until March, Smith is a club cricketer.
"It’s something at times we love, that added pressure to try to win games or even step it up another level," Starc said.
"We’ve all been around long enough and played enough cricket to really run off the back of one another and lift in those pressure situations. How we bowled last summer at home leaves us in a good frame of mind heading into this summer.
"I know I am, and I’m sure the other guys coming back into the squad are looking forward to getting down to Canberra and getting stuck into some Shield cricket.
"The fact it’s also now a Test venue we’re playing at, I’m not sure what the wicket is going to be like but they could prepare something [similar] to what they want to do for the Test match.
"It’s another great chance for us to get a look at that and see what those conditions do as well, to keep that in mind come February when we play a Test match there.
"That was essentially the reason we weren’t considered for the Twenty20s at all, to try to get some Shield cricket and red ball cricket ahead of the Test matches coming up.
"Whether we play one or two Shield games, it’s important we get some good game time with bat and ball against the red one and obviously try and hit peak form heading into that first Test."
Cricket ACT chief executive James Allsopp expects Manuka Oval curator Brad van Dam to dish up a wicket more conducive to bowlers on what has traditionally been a batsman's paradise.
The Sheffield Shield clash in Canberra is the first elite men's game at Manuka Oval since a record-low crowd turned out to watch the Prime Minister's XI upset South Africa last month.
Allsopp is preparing to meet with Cricket Australia officials in the coming weeks about the prospect of a joint venture between the two organisations promoting the Prime Minister's XI fixture.
The governing body has seized control of the fixture's past two instalments and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr questioned Cricket Australia's promotion of the match after 1824 watched this season's game.
"Cricket Australia are really keen to reinvigorate the game as well," Allsopp said.
"Obviously for Cricket Australia, they’ve got games that are a higher priority, but I’ve expressed the importance of the game politically and from Cricket ACT’s point of view.
"We’re really keen to come up with a partnership about how we can actually drive the game and put it back on the map as a celebration for the political landscape and also what the game represents for our local community celebrating our contribution to the Australian system."
