Fresh from national duty, Tasmanian batsman Alex Doolan hopes to invigorate the Tigers’ top order for the side’s Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria.

Disappointed to be dropped from the Australian team after its unsuccessful series against Pakistan, the right-hander is focused on scoring for his state when the day-night match starts on Saturday at Bellerive Oval.

But his omission from the Australian side still stings.

“It’s always hard to cop when you’re not playing,” he said.

“You always want to be playing and to miss a test for Australia is hard to take but you’ve got to roll with the punches.”

Indifferent about the prospect of an imminent recall to the national team, Doolan said the best he can do is put runs on the board for his state and the rest is up to the selectors.

“It’s all about runs and winning games,” he said.

After a first round, seven-wicket loss to Western Australia in Perth, Tasmania faces a confident Victoria which comes off a nine-wicket win over NSW.

The visitors have a couple of injury clouds and have named a squad of 13 for the fixture, with the final line up to be announced on Saturday.

The home side will be far from full strength, missing George Bailey and James Faulkner who are both on national call-up.

But handy paceman Ben Hilfenhaus also returns from the national team.

Victoria’s Peter Handscomb said the Bushrangers are short a couple of key players.

“That will make it an interesting game,” he said.

Handscomb hopes the Bellerive wicket will offer good conditions for Victoria’s bowlers.

“Hopefully our quicks and spinners can really step it up and we will chase down whatever.”

Following a batting collapse in Perth, Doolan said it’s important for Tasmania to score well this match and break the runs failure which became a habit last season.

“I’d like to be like all the other good batsmen around the country at the moment: scoring big runs,” he said of his own performance.

Play starts at 2pm (AEDT), with Doolan warning Hobart’s cool night temperatures will add an extra challenge.

TAS: Alex Doolan (capt), Ed Cowan, Xavier Doherty, Andrew Fekete, Evan Gulbis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Hamish Kingston, Dominic Michael, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Jordan Silk, Jon Wells.

VIC: David Hussey (capt), Fawad Ahmed, Scott Boland, Dan Christian, Peter Handscomb, John Hastings, Alex Keath, David King, Clint McKay, Rob Quiney, Ryan Sidebottom, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Tremain.