Still seven months before his 30th birthday, Cameron Boyce is standing at a fork in the road.

Down one path is a modified version of what's he's done for most of the past decade: the life of a professional cricketer, this time focused solely on the 20-over game having conceded his days as a full-time state player in Australia are probably behind him.

The other option would see cricket firmly take a back seat, the higher priorities of fatherhood to six-month-old Bonnie and a career as a primary school teacher helping to ease him out of the bubble of professional sport.

Just which path Boyce takes next could well be determined over the next two months.

Dumped by Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes this year and without a full state contract for the first time since 2010, the leg-spinner will play for Melbourne Renegades in this summer's KFC BBL, the first of a two-year deal at what is his third Big Bash franchise having debuted with the Strikers in 2012.

Success with the Renegades could propel him onto the global Twenty20 circuit and, less than two years out from a T20 World Cup on home soil, even back into the national side.

Whichever way life ends up taking him, Boyce seems genuinely at peace.

"It's a different path for me now, but I'm really looking forward to it," he tells cricket.com.au, having returned home to his native Queensland in the winter after two years living in the Apple Isle.

"I thought I'd miss playing state cricket. I miss being around the boys, but … in terms of the state cricket stuff, I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would.

"It consumes a whole part of your life for so long and now that's it's done, it's taking a back seat. My priorities have changed with the baby, but I'm really enjoying it.

"Cricket as a whole is going to end at some point. It ended a bit earlier for me, but that's fine.

"If Queensland come knocking for second XI or state stuff, I wouldn't say no, there's no doubt. I've been bowling really well in grade cricket, I've been taking five-fors, so I'd never say no. But I'm realistic now.

"No matter when you start or stop, it's got a timeframe on it and however long that is, is up to you.

"But now that I'm out, I've got a different perspective and I'm pretty happy with where I'm at."

It's a remarkably measured and calm assessment given, like many of his leg-spin contemporaries, Boyce had been viewed with such excitement early in his career that he was unfairly burdened with the tag of 'the next Shane Warne'.

With 96 first-class wickets at an average touching 50, it's fair to say he was never able to live up to those unreasonably high expectations. But like leg-spinners the world over, Boyce has found his niche in the game's shortest format.

Boyce has taken 19 wickets from 10 innings while captaining Toombul in Queensland Premier Cricket this season, across the formats, and took 3-20 in the Renegades' intra-club warm-up on Sunday.

The sixth-most prolific wicket-taker in Big Bash history, Boyce's brief but successful international career included a sliding doors moment in the last of his seven T20s for Australia.

A missed stumping chance against India at the SCG almost three years ago would have improved his already impressive figures of 2-28 in a high-scoring game that included the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

Just 10 days later, he was dropped for the 2016 T20 World Cup and hasn't played for Australia since.

But with eight international wickets and an economy rate of just 6.60, Boyce has genuine belief that he can get back to the highest level.

And the story of former state teammate Tim Paine, from the brink of his cricketing mortality to Australia's 46th Test captain, fosters even more faith in a rags-to-riches tale.

"(He's) inspirational for any guys who are at a point where they're not quite sure where they sit," Boyce says. "He's back there and doing an unbelievable job for the Aussie boys.

"You never really know what can happen.

"All of a sudden it can change over a few weeks or over a few good performances.

"My numbers, I think, speak for themselves. I know I've only played a few games of international cricket, but I thought I did a really good job when I was there. (Australia have) had a few different spinners in the last few years since I made my debut.

"I'd love to get back there, and I feel like I'm bowling as well as I ever have."

Family and fatherhood down one path, the life of a cricketing globetrotter down the other. Just which one Boyce walks will become clearer over the coming weeks.