Shane Watson says he has nobody to blame but himself for the poor run that resulted in his dumping from Australia's one-day team for the first time in seven years.

The veteran all-rounder finds himself in the unenviable position of needing misfortune to befall a teammate - whether it be a form slump or injury - to regain his place in Australia's World Cup XI.

With no matches on offer to play himself back into form, Watson has only net sessions to finetune his game so that he is ready to seize his opportunity if a recall is forthcoming. Australia's batsmen were brilliant on Wednesday, albeit against international newcomers Afghanistan, but a much sterner test awaits on Sunday against 2011 finalists Sri Lanka in a crunch match at the SCG.

Should Watson return in this tournament, it may not be in the No.3 position he has held for the past 18 months due to Steve Smith's excellent recent form at first drop. From eight innings in that position since September, Smith averages 68 with two tons and two half-centuries, which shows he is ready to make that spot his own.

Barring injury, Watson's best chance of returning to the XI is likely to be as an all-rounder batting in the middle order, a role where he is vying with rising star Mitch Marsh and proven match-winner James Faulkner. Watson accepts he has had "plenty of opportunities" and knows his World Cup fate is now out of his control, but is confident he can make an impact if given another chance.

"We'll see how it goes. I know I haven't scored enough runs," Watson said on Thursday. "But in the end all I can do is do everything I can to make sure I'm ready to go if any opportunity arises. I know I haven't scored enough runs, so I've only got myself to blame."

Watson said he is working on technical changes to his game. He recently linked up with former one-day star Dean Jones, who had written that Watson could not trust his defence.

"There are things I've made adjustments on even before I got dropped to try to continue to improve and give myself a better chance to score runs and perform. I'm always trying to get better and learn, so that's all I can do," Watson said. "I believe in myself and my own abilities. If an opportunity comes along, I'll be ready to go."

The Australians have not been happy with the number of times they have been bailed out by the likes of Faulkner, Brad Haddin, Marsh and Glenn Maxwell, which placed even more scrutiny on Watson's failure to convert his starts.

Smith, though shocked at Watson's omission, said he was looking forward to batting at No.3 as he had more time to build his innings.

"I enjoy batting at three. I have obviously had a little bit of success there in the one-day tournament so far. It was obviously disappointing for Watto to miss out, but hopefully I can continue my form up there," Smith said.

"For us as a batting group, we have been a little bit disappointing with the ways we've got out and put a pretty big emphasis on the top four or five getting the bulk of the runs. We have probably left it up to guys like Faulkner, who bats at No.8, to get the job done, and it's a luxury to have him batting at No.8, but it's not his job to do it every game."

Despite having a golden summer with the bat, Smith felt he needed time in the middle to get back into the groove after a relatively lean February, which he finished with twin World Cup failures.

"I had just lost a little bit of rhythm with my swing the last couple of games. I felt it a little bit in practice as well," Smith said.

"I needed that time in the middle; it made things a lot easier and you feel a lot better and I am happy where I am at now."