James Vince is returning to his overseas base camp as he bids to kickstart his Test career at the second attempt.

It is more than a decade since a 16-year-old Vince first undertook a foreign winter and played Grade cricket in Perth as part of Paul Terry's academy with Melville's second team.

The stakes were high enough then for a teenage hopeful away from home, but they are more so this time with an Ashes number three berth apparently on Vince's agenda as he tries to restate his claim in the biggest series of all.

It did not work out for the stylish Hampshire batsman in his maiden foray at the highest level, dropped after seven home Tests last year in which he finished with a sub-20 average and top score of 42.

It is arguably only thanks to the subsequent failures of others in one of England's problem positions that to his surprise Vince has been invited back so soon.

"Initially I didn't expect to get the call," he said of last month's return to a squad of 16 as England seek to retain the urn and erase the memory of their 5-0 whitewash defeat here four years ago.

Vince has got his head round it all in time, though, and is eager to get started on a tour which will begin in earnest with a two-day fixture against a Western Australia XI at the WACA this weekend.

"It's a great opportunity for me to establish myself in the team and kickstart my Test career," he added, wary nonetheless of proclaiming his hold on the number three slot just yet.

"I don't know about that.

"If I do get the opportunity to bat three, then great."

Vince insists he returns a wiser batsman but not one who is going to give up on the strength which became his weakness in 2016 as he fell to a succession of edged drives to slip or behind.

The learning curve, he believes, has been "mental, as much as anything".

"It's probably dealing with stuff off the pitch ... the scrutiny and analysis from the TV," he said.

"I think everyone gets caught in the slips in Test cricket at times, but I want to be a bit more selective in the balls I'm trying to attack and defend.

"It's not a shot I'm going to put away. I'll just try to be smarter in the times I use it and the balls I play it against."

It can only help that he will feel a home away from home, having lodged here for two winters with Hampshire team-mate Dimitri Mascarenhas' mum - at the generosity of Terry.

"It helped my cricket and helped me as a person," he said.

"It's nice to be back in Perth and catching up with a few friends."

England found themselves doing likewise on their first day of training at the WACA - although the Halloween sight of Mitchell Johnson, a ghost of their 2013/14 debacle, was perhaps a little less reassuring as the brilliant left-armer reported for pundit and guest columnist duties at his old stamping ground.

Vince for one did not appear spooked.

He added: "As Cookie [Alastair Cook] said before we came out, if you do well in an Ashes series in Australia it counts for a hell of a lot.

"It's a great opportunity for some guys to stand up and make a name for themselves."