Not assured of so much as a place in a first-class team any more but happy to be back on familiar turf. That's the verdict of a relaxed-looking and philosophical Murray Goodwin three weeks into the new Australian season.

Having returned to Perth to continue an association with Western Australian cricket that began on the other side of a near to four year return to Zimbabwe (the country of his birth), Goodwin has been excluded from the Warriors' team to meet South Australia in a Pura Cup match in Adelaide later this week. His non-selection comes just over a week after he also failed to win a place in the eleven for the season's first-class opener against Queensland in Perth. The only state match in which he has appeared to date was the Mercantile Mutual Cup match against South Australia (in which he made a sparkling unbeaten 62) in Perth last Friday. A season that began amid the warm glow of expectation lies, for the moment at least, unfulfilled.

Battling the likes of Damien Martyn, Justin Langer, Tom Moody, Mike Hussey, Simon Katich and Ryan Campbell for a spot is no easy proposition. And, temporarily anyway, it's one that sees him rated somewhere outside the state's top six batsmen in the minds of its selectors. Regular opportunities will almost certainly come once the Tests and One-Day Internationals take some of those players away but, for now, it's very much a case of cooling his much-travelled heels.

"It is frustrating, but that's cricket. We've got a good batting line-up so you've just got to take the good with the bad," he says after giving fans a glimpse of what they've so far been missing with his spectacular contribution to the Warriors' three-run win over the Redbacks.

"I'm just hoping that once I do get in the side, hopefully I can consolidate and go on from there."

As for finding himself back in the West after his long absence, the now-veteran of nineteen Tests and seventy-one ODI appearances remarks that it is a delight to be back.

"To be honest, it's not a hell of a lot of different from when I was here three years ago. It's really really good fun. We have a lot of humour out there. I really enjoyed playing under lights at the WACA (on Friday) again."

Although other state teams are hardly likely to be too amused by the prospect of having current international stars replaced by one who has only recently departed that arena, it will only be a matter of time before the classy right hander is showcasing his skills regularly at the domestic level again. Regardless of how strong the standard of Australian first-class cricket may be at the moment, it's not quite so good as to ensure his absence. Not on so repetitive a basis anyway.

© 2000 CricInfo Ltd