Dumped Test paceman Doug Bollinger says he's ready to take out his frustrations on Queensland when New South Wales host the Bulls in the first ever Sheffield Shield match at Blacktown Olympic Park starting on Saturday.
The left-armer is one of two changes to the Blues line-up ahead of the top of the table clash, with Ben Rohrer also coming into the side for Phil Hughes and Steve Smith who are both away on Test duties.
Bollinger, who took 1-130 from 29 overs in Australia's heavy defeat in the second Ashes Test in Adelaide, admits he's bitterly disappointed to have missed out on the squad for the third Test in Perth.
But rather than drag his feet, the 29-year-old knows he needs a bag full of wickets against the Bulls in order to force his way back into Ricky Ponting's side for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests.
"I'm pretty fired up," Bollinger declared on Thursday.
"It's great playing for Australia but I've just got to do well for NSW and take as many wickets as I can."
"I'm happy to be back with the (NSW) guys and they're going really, really well before Christmas and hopefully I can have a good Shield game starting Saturday against Queensland out in God's country."
The Blues bounced back from their one-wicket loss to Tasmania last month with comprehensive victories over Western Australia and South Australia to sit 10 points clear atop the Sheffield Shield ladder after six matches.
Nathan Hauritz made a statement to Test selectors with a strong all-round performance in the eight-wicket win over South Australia.
The 29-year-old scored 146 with the bat one and found form with the ball taking 3-62 off 20.1 overs in the Redbacks' second innings.
Peter Nevill also chipped in with a century for the Blues while the in-form Usman Khawaja made scores of 53 and 35 not out before hitting a century in the narrow Ryobi One-Day Cup victory over the Redbacks on Sunday?
The Bulls have made several changes to the side that salvaged a draw against the Warriors last week, with 29-year top-order batsman Andrew Robinson set to make his first class debut.
Former skipper Chris Simpson will make his first Shield appearance of the season while Nathan Rimmington also returns to the squad.
Ben Dunk, Michael Neser and Alister McDermott will all miss after they were selected in the Futures League T20 line-up, while veteran James Hopes has been omitted to let his injured thumb heal.
Young-gun Chris Lynn saved the day for the Queensland against the Warriors with a superb 142 not-out after the Bulls were forced to follow on after being rolled for 150 in their first innings.
Lynn, 20, has managed 439 runs at 62.7 so far this season to be the competition's second-highest run scorer behind Khawaja (499 at 71.3).
It's been a tumultuous week for the Bulls after coach Trevor Barsby resigned, but Bollinger says the Blues can ill afford to underestimate the visitors.
"They're a good team, they've got a few good players and we can't worry about that we've just got to worry about ourselves and trying to win, and if they've got their own problems well there's not much we can do about it," he said.
New South Wales: Stuart Clark (c) Doug Bollinger, Mark Cameron, Trent Copeland, Nathan Hauritz, Moises Henriques, Phil Jaques, Usman Khawaja, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Stephen O'Keefe, Ben Rohrer.
Queensland: Chris Hartley (c), Cameron Boyce, Ryan Broad, Luke Feldman, Cameron Gannon, Chris Lynn, Craig Philipson, Nathan Rimmington, Andrew Robinson, Chris Simpson, Chris Swan, Wade Townsend.