Nannes aiming to seize chance

Dirk Nannes, who made his Australia debut last August, hopes to feature in his first full Twenty20 international for them this Friday

Nottinghamshire signing Dirk Nannes views Australia's one-off Twenty20 international against Pakistan in Melbourne on Friday as a “huge opportunity” to cement a place in the team with the ICC World Twenty20 just over two months away.

A change in Australia's selectors' attitudes towards the shortest form of the game has seen 33-year-old Nannes drafted into the national Twenty20 squad this week after being overlooked for last year's World Twenty20 in England, despite being the leading wicket-taker in Australia’s 2008-09 domestic T20 competition: the Big Bash.

Friday night's clash with Pakistan serves as only one of five chances to play for Australia in the newest incarnation of the game in the lead-up to the showpiece event in the Caribbean.

The other four are against the West Indies and New Zealand, twice each.

The left-arm seamer, who won the Twenty20 Cup with Middlesex in 2008, will represent Nottinghamshire in this season’s revamped Friends Provident t20, which follows the international showpiece.

Last year Nannes played for Holland in the World Twenty20, but he would love nothing more than to be donning the green and gold in the 2010 tournament.

"I think any chance to play is a big opportunity," Nannes said. "Every game you play in the Big Bash is a massive opportunity to prove yourself.

"Hopefully I get a few more opportunities after that (Friday's clash against Pakistan) and who knows? I'm not a selector and all I can do is try and bowl as best as I can.

"It's great to be in the Australian team and whether that, going forward, gets me a place to the World Cup that would be fantastic."

Nannes' record in the shortest form the game is undeniable, having taken 70 wickets at 17.74 for various teams around the world, including Indian Premier League outfit Delhi Daredevils, and he is thankful that national selectors do not view age as an important factor in Twenty20s any more.

"It's a bit of a different game, I think there's a different mentality for sure bowling Twenty20 as opposed to bowling one-dayers," he said.

"It's probably the first time they've really gone down that track, they did it in England, they picked a different side and unfortunately we got rained off," he said of the two abandoned Twenty20 matches against England that followed the Ashes series last year.

"So this is the first time really that the new-look outfit really has a chance to shine.

"(The selectors have) certainly picked a lot of people who have got good records in the (Twenty20) game."