After spending years carving out a name for himself in Australian domestic cricket, qualified carpenter Brendan Doggett is now eyeing a second life as a test bowler and a dream debut in the Ashes.

Doggett chipped away on building sites and on the fringes of the test squad in relative obscurity but injuries have opened the door for the 31-year-old paceman to make a name for himself in the series-opener against England in Perth on Friday.

He is expected to join Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland in an Australia pace attack that no-one saw coming, not least the South Australia quick.

"I don't know how ready you can be for test cricket," Doggett told reporters in Perth on Monday.

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