Despite his stint being cut short by an injury that has continued to impact his bowling, Daniel Worrall says he learned more in a couple of months of UK county cricket than he had over the preceding five seasons at first-class level in Australia.

Worrall played just four red-ball matches for Gloucestershire last year before a fracture in his foot forced him back to Australia, where he has twice this summer succumbed to back injuries that have extended his time on the sidelines.

However, it was that five-week window with Gloucester – in which he took 16 first-class wickets at an average of 21.75 – that prompted informed judges including Jason Gillespie and Mitchell Johnson to push his case for the Ashes tour later this year.

The fact that Worrall has played just three of a possible seven JLT Sheffield Shield matches this summer due to his back issues would traditionally count against him.

But mitigating that is the form he's displayed in those few appearances, which included a career-best 7-64 in his first outing after injury (against Western Australia at Adelaide) followed by match figures of 7-125 in his next game in Hobart.

While it was the workload (almost 100 overs across those two fixtures) that led to his latest bout of back trouble, the 27-year-old's potency with new and old Kookaburra ball before the season break indicate his England experience has made him a demonstrably more accomplished bowler.

A notion that Worrall heartily endorses, citing the insights he gleaned while based in Bristol as invaluable to any swing bowler eyeing an Ashes berth for the series that begins on August 1.

"I could stand here for hours and tell you about what I learned - it's just a different game over there," Worrall said today as he prepared to depart Adelaide for his latest comeback game, against WA in Perth starting on Sunday

"I learned so much more in two months that I haven't learned in five years of first-class in Australia.

"That's just because it's a different style of play, the English batsmen line-up differently and they play the swinging ball day-in day-out, so they can adapt to that.

"So it's a matter of being almost a bit more subtle with variations, not bowling big in-swingers and big out-swingers.

"It's more about doing as little as you can, as late as you can."

Although his on-field exposure was limited due to the foot fracture that meant he spent the rest of Australia's winter limited to rehabilitation and fitness work, he gained many meaningful insights during off-field conversations with his fellow professionals.

That dialogue continued when he returned to Australia, and often found himself working in the gym alongside Test quick (and Adelaide Strikers squad member) Peter Siddle, who was also part of the county scene last year while playing for Essex.

Siddle now looms as Worrall's rival for a seamer's berth on the upcoming Qantas Ashes Tour of England, but it's that fraternal communication among those who understand the vagaries of bowling in the UK that has Worrall cautiously eyeing a place in the squad.

"As cliched as it is, it's just having conversations at the pub," Worrall said today of the most important lesson he learned at Gloucestershire, where he will return later this year if not required for Australia and/or Australia A duties.

"Whether it's the players or coaches – we had (former Australia ODI all-rounder) Ian Harvey over there as assistant coach, and (ex-Test opener) Chris Rogers from a batting perspective.

"Plus it's the guys that you play with.

"You learn just by talking, and then trying it out at training the next day."

Worrall, who ascribed his bouts of back soreness to nothing more sinister than "overdoing it" when coming back from previous injury lay-offs, doesn't shirk from the reality his name is being mentioned as an Ashes smoky.

That's even though the others in the mix for what's assumed to be a solitary seamer's spot behind incumbent trio Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson as well as Josh Hazlewood (currently injured) have all put forward compelling cases.

In addition to Siddle, who was part of Australia's squad through this summer's Tests against India and Sri Lanka without playing a match, that list includes Victorians Chris Tremain, Scott Boland and James Pattinson, Tasmania's Jackson Bird and Queensland's Michael Neser.

Worrall acknowledges that for all the speculative chatter regarding make-up of the Ashes squad, his chances of living out a boyhood dream will evaporate if he can't rediscover the form and fitness he showed earlier in the season.

"It's always better to be talked about than ignored, so that's a pleasing start," he said today.

"But really, it doesn't change anything that I do day-to-day, and it's the same as anyone in first-class cricket if you start letting it get to you, and you start adding that pressure on yourself from outside noises.

"You've just got to stay insular, do your role for the team and, at the end of the day, all you can do is take wickets, make runs and impact games.

"So that's my plan.

"I don't really work on a confidence basis, it's more that I think about it rationally, don’t get too emotional, and do what I know.

"I'll go out there just trying to get the batsmen on the front foot, and nicking the ball to the keeper.

"It's not really that complicated, to be honest."