TEST paceman-in-waiting Ashley Noffke is relishing the prospect of playing three matches in Cairns with the Queensland Bulls this week.

The best bowler in Australian interstate cricket over the past two years, Noffke has only recently returned from the Test team’s tour of the West Indies where he was 12th man.

He is aching for a Test debut, having played 50-over and Twenty20 cricket for his country for the first time last summer.

Noffke is eager to get some solid stints in at the bowling crease against the emerging New Zealand A side through the Suncorp Challenge series.

"Absolutely, I want to go to Cairns for these games – centre wicket practice is always important no matter who it is against or how often it is," Noffke said.

The 31-year-old is in fine fettle after the Caribbean tour.

"I haven’t done a huge amount of bowling since the end of last season – it has only been net bowling," he said. "As the spare player on tour, the conditioning guys really keep an eye on your workload to make sure you come in fresh to Test matches if the opportunity arises."

Noffke’s record over the past two summers has been extra special. He was both the leading wicket-taker and runscorer for Queensland in the Pura Cup last season, with 741 runs and 51 wickets.

He became just the third Australian since 1981-82 to take 50 wickets and score 500 runs in an Australian first-class season.

The previous year he was the Bulls’ leading wicket-taker in the Pura Cup, was equal third leading wicket-taker in the competition in the Ford Ranger Cup and was the second most economical bowler in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash series.

While Noffke has been sensational, the Bulls failed to make a final in any of the three competitions for the first time in 14 years last summer.

Noffke said the Bulls would approach this week’s Suncorp Challenge with a balanced view.

"We’d obviously like to win but we want to execute some skills we’ve been working on in the nets," he said.

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