The 'tough conversations' that have made Ellis indispensable

A quiet set of adjustments from one of the country's hardest working cricketers has set Nathan Ellis up to do what virtually no fast bowler has done in a decade – dislodge the Big Three from a full-strength Australian team.

Ahead of this week's planned reunification of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood against South Africa, Ellis' spot in the ODI side is now becoming increasingly difficult to take away.

On Sunday, the 32-year-old followed a match-turning effort with the ball by singlehandedly taking his team over the line with the bat in what appeared a doomed run chase after centurion Josh Inglis was dismissed against Zimbabwe on Sunday.

"I love Cooper (Connolly) but I thought Ellis deserved the player-of-the-series award," captain Mitch Marsh of the quick who added 45 runs for the final two wickets to pull off the one-wicket win, having already returned nine wickets at 12.44 on the three-game ODI tour.  

There are question marks over whether the Cummins-Starc-Hazlewood trio can defend their crown at next year's World Cup given their gruelling run of Test cricket in the months before the October-November event begins in southern Africa.

It means that Ellis has not only made himself a lock for that tournament with 27 wickets at 17.11 from 15 international ODI and T20I matches this year, but he is now arguably Australia's most indispensable white-ball cricketer given he does not play Tests.

The Big Three have only played one ODI together since leading Australia to glory at the 2023 World Cup final, but they have been picked for just about every major game they have been available for across all formats over the past 10 years.

Yet Ellis' decision to prioritise international cricket ahead of franchise riches and put in the hard yards to up his ball speed to rival those bowlers could now have him in the frame to play ahead of one of them.

The three-game ODI series against the Proteas will mark his first time in a 50-over squad with all three of them, having never played a 50-over match alongside the format's captain, Pat Cummins.

Ellis, who has been nationally contracted since 2024, missed the Indian Premier League this year for the first time six seasons in a bid to strengthen his hamstrings, which he had injured several times during his busy run of international and domestic T20 cricket.

"With the scheduling I was coming into series potentially cooked or injured, so there were some tough conversations in terms of priorities and where I'm at," he told cricket.com.au after taking Australia to a 3-0 ODI series sweep over Zimbabwe.

"Every day it's Australia, it's Australian cricket (that is the priority). So it's just making sure that I'm fit and firing and fresh coming into series.

"Probably the main focus point for me has been my hamstrings, which especially as I get older, are going to be the priority moving forward.

"They're probably the two simple and most obvious changes I've made over the last 18 months."

Ellis completed considerable strength work over that period in a bid to increase his top-end pace, an area few fast bowlers manage to improve as late into their careers as their early-thirties.

Yet it proved a successful endeavour, which has only increased the potency of his trademark slower deliveries.

In Ellis' first 32 international appearances between his debut in August 2021 and July 2025, he topped 140kph just three times. Since July last year, in the same number of matches, he has sent down 41 deliveries in excess of 140kph, per CricViz.

"When I first came onto the scene, you're getting opportunities to play for Australia when some guys are out, and you're also getting opportunities to play franchise cricket," said Ellis, who just about made up for his lost A$300k IPL deal with Chennai Super Kings by playing a full Hundred season for Sunrisers Leeds on a $271k contract.

"Your calendar fills up really quickly when you're not saying no to things. So that's been a learning curve and an evolution of my game.

"I'm obviously at a point now where I feel like hopefully most of the time I'll be on the (Australia) tours, which gives you a bit more of a clear-cut plan.

"I feel like that combined with the work that CA's put into my body, specifically my hamstrings, which has plagued me a little bit at times especially when I'm fatigued. Touch wood, body's feeling really good at the moment.

"Ball speed's up and reaping the rewards."

Australia XI: Mitch Marsh (c), Travis Head, Cooper Connolly, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Matt Renshaw, Ollie Peake, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

 

Zimbabwe XI: Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Innocent Kaia, Brendan Taylor (wk), Craig Ervine, Sikandar Raza (c), Wessly Madhevere, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Ernest Masuku, Blessing Muzarabani

Qantas tour of Zimbabwe 2026

All matches broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First ODI: Australia beat Zimbabwe by 59 runs

Second ODI: Australia beat Zimbabwe by 84 runs

Third ODI: Australia beat Zimbabwe by one wicket

Zimbabwe squad: Sikandar Raza (c), Ben Curran, Blessing Muzarabani, Brad Evans, Brendan Taylor, Brian Bennett, Craig Ervine, Ernest Masuku, Graeme Cremer, Innocent Kaia, Newman Nyamhuri, Ryan Burl, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Wessly Madhevere

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Joel Davies, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Adam Zampa

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First ODI: September 24, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6pm AEST (10am local)

Second ODI: September 27, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, 6pm AEST (10am local)

Third ODI: September 30, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 9:30pm AEST (D/N, 1:30pm local)

South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Duan Jansen, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Nqobani Mokoena, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs

Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Joel Davies, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

Warm-up match: October 3-4, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 6pm AEST (10am local)

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster