New-model Noffke enjoys change in fortune

Ashley Noffke has been rewarded for reconstructing his game with a place in Australia's Twenty20 squad to face New Zealand on Tuesday. Noffke started the remodelling two years ago in a bid to become a more complete player and the results have been amazing.

He and Doug Bollinger are the standout domestic bowlers this season - Noffke has 24 Pura Cup wickets - and his 490 runs have him behind only Simon Katich on the run-scoring lists. "We couldn't be more pleased with the way he's going,'' Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, told AAP. "He's bowling beautifully and the Twenty20 is a reward for his all-round skills. We think he's ideally suited.''

Noffke is the only player in the squad who is not an international, but he suddenly finds himself in Australia's plans in the lead-up to the 2009 World Twenty20. He was picked on the 2001 Ashes tour and the 2003 trip to the West Indies, but it was not until he started thinking about his future that things began to change.

"I guess in a way I really feel the years I've done previously were a bit of an apprenticeship and I've only been reborn two years ago in the changes I've made,'' he said. "There are times in your career when you have to sit back and reflect on the journey you're on and where you are going to take it from there.

"I've definitely had a few seasons of that, working out what type of cricketer I wanted to be and how I needed to go about that. I made some changes and I'm very happy I did.''