Ahead of the upcoming series against Scotland and England, Australian fast bowler Nathan Ellis has said he is looking to become a mainstay of the bowling attack.
Australia are scheduled to play three T20Is against Scotland before playing 3 T20Is and 5 ODIs against England. Pat Cummins has been rested throughout the tour as part of workload management, while Mitchell Starc has been rested for the T20Is. As a result, Nathan Ellis is set to play a key role with the ball on the tour.
And with both Cummins and Starc unavailable, he is looking to seize the opportunity to become a regular in the Australian white-ball attack. The right-hander said that while he is not looking to replace any of the bowlers, he wants to transform the big three into the big four. Starc, Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been the big three of Australia’s attack for years.
“It’s a tough situation for me because these are guys I’ve looked up to for a long time as a kid,” Ellis told cricket.com.au.
“Now I’m at the point where I want to compete and be part of that group: it’s the big three, hopefully I can get to the big four.”
Nathan Ellis on the limited opportunities he had at the T20 World Cup:
Nathan Ellis also spoke about not being able to play regularly during the T20 World Cup last month. Of the 7 matches Australia played in the competition, they managed to get a chance in only 3 of them. They played against Oman, Namibia and Scotland, but not England in the group stages.
In the Super 8 phase, Ellis did not play any of the three matches as Australia lost two of them and failed to make it to the semi-final. Looking back on his T20 World Cup campaign, Ellis said he was well aware of his place in the pecking order, although he claimed he needs to change his mindset to become a regular in the starting XI.
“It’s an honor to play alongside those guys and I’m just trying to learn what I can from all their preparation and how they do it.
“They’ve been so good for so long that I went into the World Cup with no illusions about where I would fit in the pecking order. Maybe that’s a mindset I should try to change, but they’ve been great servants of our country and that comes with a lot of merit,” he said.
“I love playing for Australia and it’s something I don’t take for granted and never will, so I hope to become a mainstay but to do that I have to play good cricket,” Ellis added.
Meanwhile, the T20I series between Australia and Scotland is scheduled to begin on September 4. On the other hand, the series between Australia and England will begin on September 11.
