USMAN Khawaja says he will return to Derbyshire a better player for the experience of his spell with the county last year.

Derbyshire have completed the signing of the 25-year-old Australia left-hander as their overseas player for the second half of the 2012 campaign.

He will take over from Martin Guptill from the start of the Friends Provident t20 on June 14 and will stay for the rest of the season.

Like Guptill, Derbyshire were keen to bring Khawaja back for a second spell because they were impressed by what they saw, even though his first-class return of 319 runs at 39.87 was nothing spectacular.

But head coach Karl Krikken knows Khawaja is capable of so much more and, having found his feet in his seven-week stay last year, the player says he is ready to repay that faith.

"I went to Derbyshire early in the season last year and only played four Championship games on pitches which were all different," he said.

"It was all new to me in terms of having to learn about the bowlers I was facing as well as the weather conditions.

"County bowlers know their own conditions really well and bowl accordingly so the County Championship is a tough competition with no easy games.

"I want to keep learning in every game I play, so being at Derbyshire is a good test in a new environment.

"Everything was new to me last year and I learned most of all that it's important to have a clear head at the crease. I tried a few different adjustments which didn't come off but I've learned a lot since then.

"In the past 12 months I've been working on a few things, both mentally and technical aspects. I know that the result of a match is not always going to be in my control but what I can control is making sure my training and preparation is always the best it can be.

"My philosophy with batting is to just keep things simple. I've improved my mental application and technique but the key for a batsman is always to watch the ball and if you do that you won't go far wrong.

"It's a challenge for every batsman to score big hundreds consistently but when I get my opportunity I'm going to take it.

"I am very keen to get back to Derbyshire because I love the team and my team-mates are a fantastic group.

"Ross Whiteley is my best mate at Derbyshire. He stayed at my house in Sydney for a couple of days recently.

"He's got lots of potential to be a really top class all-rounder. He scored a couple of hundreds towards the end of last season and I agree with Darren Lehmann that he's got the ability to play for England.

"This year I want to contribute in every single game. I want to improve and make sure I'm always learning.

"I always want to make sure that when I get a good start that I really cash in with big scores."

Khawaja had played only one Test for Australia when he came to Derbyshire last year and he has since played five more. He now averages 29.22 in Tests.

Despite hitting an unbeaten 56 in the final warm-up match against the Indians, Khawaja lost his place at number three in the batting order to Shaun Marsh for the four Test series.

Marsh struggled to score only 17 runs in six innings and so Khawaja might rightly consider himself unlucky to miss out but he says he has not let that affect him.

"I haven't been thinking about playing for Australia too much, my focus has been on improving and doing my best for New South Wales and Derbyshire," he added.

"When I left Derbyshire we were top of the CB40 last year, so there's no reason why we can't win it this year.

"As a playing group, we agreed that the best way to approach a new season is by aiming to win all three competitions.

"If we do that, it means we will always be striving to win matches and will always make sure we are contributing as much as we can with our individual performances with bat, ball and in the field."