Murray Goodwin harbours Australian ambitions

Murray Goodwin has said that he would love to play for Australia when he becomes eligible to do so in seven months.

Goodwin was born in Harare, but moved to Australia when he was 13, only returning to Zimbabwe in 1997 to pursue an international career in which he played 19 Tests and 71 ODIs. But at the end of Zimbabwe's tour of England in 2000 he announced that he was quitting international cricket and he moved back to Perth, resuming a career with Western Australia which had started in 1996-97.

Under International Cricket Council rules, a player cannot be selected by a country if he has represented another nation in the preceding four years. Goodwin's last appearance for Zimbabwe was the NatWest Series final against England at Lord's on July 22, 2000.

"The thought of playing international cricket again keeps me going," Goodwin told the Western Australian newspaper. "I set myself pretty high standards and if I can keep performing well for WA, who knows down the line? It would be great to play for Australia. All I can do is just make runs and leave it up to the selectors.

"Playing for Australia is a way off. Even though I'm a naturalised Australian I can't play until after this season. Even then I'd be 31 and whether they look at me is another story. But I'd love to play for Australia. It would be awesome.

"I want to keep playing for WA as long as I'm good enough to play and they want me."