West Aussie spinner Corey Rocchiccioli has his sights on a possible Ashes squad appearance but says he will need to put in a solid body of work first to get the call-up. 

The 27-year-old was named in the 13-man Australia A squad heading over to India this month and is set to feature in the two four-day matches in Lucknow before returning to Australia to play Shield Cricket for WA. 

Although Nathan Lyon remains the first-choice spinner for Australia in the Ashes, Rocchicioli says he wouldn’t turn down the opportunity if it arose. 

“It’d be really exciting if that popped up, but I’ve got to keep making sure I’m playing really good cricket,” he told SportFM.

“There’s a good group of spinners underneath Gaz at the moment, so I think it’s about playing good cricket for Western Australia. We were a little bit disappointed with how we finished the season last year.

“If I’m playing really good cricket and contributing to wins, then I’m obviously giving myself the best opportunity to play. I’m really looking forward to being at home and playing at the WACA. There’s nothing better than that.” 

Over the Australian off-season, Rocchiccioli had a brief appearance for Warwickshire, where he snagged two five-wicket hauls, including an impressive 6-wicket haul against Sussex. 

Rocchicchioli was signed on for four matches during the Kookaburra games of the County Cricket season, a new initiative led by Sir Andrew Strauss to better the skills of English bowlers and batters ahead of overseas series. 

This came off the back of a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Australia during the 2021/22 Ashes series held down under and has been met with divisive feedback from the English cricket community. 

Rocchicchioli says he felt playing with the Kookaburra benefited his own preparation for Shield cricket.

“I was feeling like I was just rolling into an extended Shield summer with a Kookaburra ball. The boys in England didn’t like it,” he said. 

“There was a lot of conversation and chatter around the ball, and what they were going to try and do with it. When I first rolled up, they were asking me questions about it. 

“It was quite dry. It was quite sunny, so we weren’t going to get wickets that were conducive to holding moisture. The ball was a talking point, but it wasn’t a major issue in my opinion, but the boys would say otherwise.”

Rocchiccioli also says he used the winter as an opportunity to increase his bowling top speeds.

“I was sitting at 85 kilometres an hour, but I’ve been pushing it up to 88-90 kilometres an hour,” he said. 

“Nathan Lyon does it really well, and it was something that I was able to have success with in England.

“That’s my pipeline for mastery in terms of being able to go up and down the gears a bit. I look at the way that Ashwin bowls over in India, and that is something that I want to emulate.”

IMAGE: Cricket Australia