Ed Joyce is hoping to use the Ashes series to erase the memory of a disappointing start to his England career.
The Middlesex batsman flew out to Australia on Wednesday as a replacement for Marcus Trescothick, who was forced to return home with a stress-related illness.
Joyce, originally included in the Academy squad, is keen to make an impression at Test level after enduring a miserable baptism in England colours.
He made just 10 on his debut against Ireland - the country of his birth - earlier in the season, then suffered a sickening ankle injury in the Twenty20 international with Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl.
He fought back from a spell on the sidelines to reclaim his place in the side - after Trescothick revealed he would not travel to India for the ICC Champions Trophy - against Pakistan late in the summer, but could muster only 21 runs in two innings.
'I'd be lying if I said it didn't play on my mind during the summer,' Joyce told ecb.co.uk.
'With the injury and not doing myself justice with the bat, I wasn't very pleased with how it went.
'But it's the end of the season now and I can put that behind me. I want to move on and hopefully the Ashes tour can be a turning point for me.'
Though Joyce was included in the Champions Trophy squad, he did not feature in any of the group games as England crashed out at the first stage, and he arrives in Australia having not played competitively since the end of September.
That is of little concern to the left-hander, whose sparkling county form has drawn favourable comparisons with David Gower from experienced and respected former players such as Mike Gatting.
Joyce scored 1,077 runs at an average of 56 in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship last season, and boasts an impressive average of 47 in all first-class cricket in a career which has also seen him represent Ireland and captain Middlesex.
'I had a good four-day season - not so much in one-dayers - and I'm pretty happy with how things have gone,' he said.
'I didn't play in India but I had a net last week at the Academy and I felt in pretty good touch.
'I'm probably seeing the ball as well as I've ever done.'
While Joyce expressed concern at Trescothick's misfortune, he was quick to point out that he did not think his withdrawal from the tour will signal the end of his career.
'You don't expect these things to happen, but it seems you can't get through an Ashes tour without injuries or something happening,' Joyce added.
'It's very sad for Tres - he has been such a brilliant batsman for England for five or six years.
'I just hope he gets better, but I think it's a bit early to be saying he won't play again.
'I can't do anything about what's happened. If I contribute in a different way to Tres, then so be it.
I just want to help out as much as I can.'
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