Nicola Carey has got a taste of life in green and gold and now she is determined to stamp her mark on cricket's world stage.
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The bowling all-rounder has set her sights on cementing a long-term place in Australia's best XI during October's three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand.
Tickets have gone on sale for the series which could be decided when the trans-Tasman rivals meet in game three at Manuka Oval on October 5.
Carey ended six years of agonising near-misses when she finally broke through for her Australian debut in March to mark one of the proudest moments of the 24-year-old's blossoming career.
But she is not done yet.
"I’d love to cement my place in the team," Carey said in Canberra on Wednesday.
"We’ve obviously got a really strong set-up and the team has been doing quite well so it will be hard to crack into the team but I’m pretty happy to be amongst the group and a chance to play potentially.
"It was obviously really exciting [to make my debut]. I’d been around the group a couple of times, and being on picked on that Indian tour, I didn’t really know what to expect on that tour.
"To get the call up for that first game was pretty exciting."
The New Zealand series will give Canberra fans a taste of what is to come with the capital set to host five women's World Twenty20 fixtures in 2020.
Carey looms as a trump card for an Australian outfit desperate to return to the top of cricket's shortest format following a breakout season in the Women's National Cricket League and Women's Big Bash League.
Playing a key role in securing a series victory over New Zealand in the capital will be the perfect platform.
"It’s exciting to get down here, maybe Malcolm Turnbull will be at the game, you never know," Carey said.
"It’s our first international series of the summer. New Zealand are obviously a really good team, Twenty20 is probably a really good format for them.
"They’ve got some really exciting players, some of which play in our Big Bash competition. It will be a really good game to play against them.
"It’s a big Twenty20 season coming up so it will be a good test for us.
"I’d like to think we’re strong in all facets of the game, we’ve got some world class bowlers and batters, as do they, so I think it will be a really good contest."
