Ellis' journey from labourer to BBL's death-overs king

This time last year, Nathan Ellis was a club cricketer struggling to make ends meet and watching the odd Hobart Hurricanes game with a beer and his mates.

Now, heading into Thursday's Eliminator final against the Sydney Thunder, he's the best death bowler in the KFC BBL.

Matthew Wade and D'Arcy Short's reunification at the top of the batting order has grabbed the headlines, but Ellis blossoming into a late-innings closer with the ball has been instrumental in the Hurricanes clinching an improbable home final.

No bowler who has sent down more than 10 'death' overs (overs 15-20) has a better economy rate during that period than Ellis, nor has anyone bowled more of those overs in BBL09.

His story is made even more remarkable given coach Adam Griffith freely admits it was never the plan to put him in the role.

So stressful is trying to curtail the biggest hitters in the world that Ellis regularly struggles to sleep after night games, while he jokes that reviewing footage of his missteps can be traumatic.

"The objective is just to not get smacked around too much," Ellis told cricket.com.au with a laugh.

"The best bowlers are the ones that get hit for a four or a six, or bowl a bad over, and come back as if nothing has happened.

"That's something I've really tried to work on. You've just got to accept your good balls are going to get hit for six too sometimes."

Ellis begun the summer without a professional contract in any format and was considering moving back to his hometown Sydney before Griffith invited him to join Tasmania's pre-season. 

He had relocated to Hobart in 2017 in search of an opportunity after dominating NSW Premier Cricket (taking 160 wickets at 22 in four seasons) but juggling work and the pursuit of a full-time cricket career quickly became all-consuming.

Often struggling to earn enough to fill his car with enough petrol to get to Bellerive to bowl to state players, Ellis worked various jobs removing furniture, landscaping, installing air-conditioners, labouring on construction sites, before finding steady work as a teacher's aide helping boys with learning difficulties at St Virgil's College.

That proved a godsend, as he was finally able to combine work with a full pre-season with the Tigers, paving the way for a successful Marsh One-Day Cup campaign with Tasmania that helped earn him a BBL deal.

His recruitment also proved a shrewd move by the ever-resourceful Hurricanes. Looking to fill the void left by star overseas quick Jofra Archer, while also losing fellow pacemen Riley Meredith and James Faulkner during the campaign, Ellis has played every game for the men in purple and has slowly grown into the finishing role.

"We thought we'd have a few other cattle on the park throughout the tournament," said Griffith. "He was ready to go, he got his opportunity and we've all seen what he's done.

"It just shows his mental strength that he can bowl those overs and that he wants to bowl those overs. It's one of the hardest jobs we've got and he's pretty good at it.

"It doesn't surprise that he's been successful – to this level, it's obviously amazing. But with the hard work he's done, he would have cut his leg off to play at the start of the tournament."

The Hurricanes were rated a 1.6 per cent chance of hosting a final three weeks ago but won their last three games of the season to secure fourth spot.

Ellis has been a key contributor, illustrating his value with clutch performances in two of their last three games and holding his nerve after some initial punishment.

Against the Melbourne Renegades last week, he conceded 20 off the third-to-last over of the game. But captain Matthew Wade kept his faith in Ellis, who only went for seven runs in the final over following a series of pinpoint yorkers and back-of-the-hand slower balls to ice the match.

Teammates rushed from all over Marvel Stadium to congratulate him.

Then in their final game against the Strikers when he bowled the same two death overs, Ellis again looked outmatched when Rashid Khan hit his first ball of the 17th over for six to reduce the equation to 33 required from 17 balls.

But another precise yorker had Rashid lbw the next delivery, conceding only more boundary from his final 11 balls to again seal a tight victory.

"I've spoken to a few people recently about my role and they've just said to stick to what works for you, you're going to have more bad days than good bowling these overs," said Ellis, who credited Griffith, Wade and overseas batter David Miller as major influences this BBL season.

"So just try to stay calm and execute, and thankfully we've had a couple of good games and a couple of good wins.

"It's obviously a stressful time to bowl, but I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as I can."