Nathan Ellis tries not to use the word surreal to describe playing for Australia. He even has an uncle that keeps pulling him up on it.
It wasn’t long ago that Ellis was fighting to establish himself in the national T20 side and rubbing shoulders will the likes of idols Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins was a ‘pinch me’ experience.
The 31-year-old played three games at the previous men’s T20 World Cup just 20 months ago but was picked behind the big three when they were all available.
But in the space of a handful of days, the Tasmanian has become the Australian squad’s most experienced fast bowler for their tilt at the 2026 men’s T20 world title.
Cummins (back) was ruled out of the World Cup last Saturday, followed by Josh Hazlewood (Achilles) on Friday, and with Starc having retired from the shortest international format last year, Ellis’ 32 T20I appearances have him ahead of fellow quicks Xavier Bartlett (18), Ben Dwarshuis (14) and travelling reserve Sean Abbott (29) as the Aussie squad’s most capped specialist quick.
The right-armer is pressing to be available for Australia’s tournament opener against Ireland on Wednesday as he completes his recovery from a hamstring niggle, but declared on the eve of tournament’s opening games on Saturday he felt “ready to go”.
He sent down five overs off his long run-up during a training session in the late-morning Colombo heat on Saturday after a week of training in Sydney before joining the Aussie squad in Sri Lanka.
While he said he could have pushed to play in Hobart Hurricanes’ Big Bash finals campaign if a World Cup wasn’t on the horizon, he believes it was the right call to sit out given they played two games in three days and faced a cross-continent trip to Perth had they won their way through to the KFC BBL|15 Final.
“I obviously hold the Hurricanes very close to my heart and as skipper I spend a lot of man hours and I’m heavily invested there, so I felt the pressures of not wanting to let the team down,” Ellis told cricket.com.au in Colombo.
“That can weigh heavy on you in the moment, and it did.
“It was pretty a tough couple of weeks and tough to see the boys bow out in the fashion we did.
“It was niggly timing and unfortunate but I’m here now and hopefully I’m in the right place to get through a World Cup … and the last two weeks have put me in good stead to do that.
“I had a big week in Sydney last week (while the team was in Pakistan) just to get put through the paces, and for me to get a little bit of confidence in it myself.
“I think I’m ready to go, it’s just a matter of now taking the time to ease my way in after a flight and come over here and hit the ground running against Ireland.”
Ellis has shone in the absence of Cummins and Starc during this two-year World Cup cycle, with his 22 wickets in 15 games behind only Adam Zampa (34 in 24 matches) for Australia in that period.
His strike rate (13.8) is also in the realm of Hazlewood’s team-leading 13.2 (minimum 20 overs), with his economy rate of 7.97 exceptional given he always bowls the tough death overs.
“It’s crazy,” Ellis said of being the squad’s experienced fast bowler, “I still feel like a new member or the baby of the team.
“I never want to take my spot for granted but it’s important for me now, to one, be fit and ready and trying to win games for Australia, but two, try and be a bit of a role player for guys who may not have experienced these conditions or much T20 international cricket.
“It’s an internal battle with myself in terms of trying to feel like that guy or be that guy, but I try and help in any way I can.
“It’s not something that I would say comes too naturally. Even the Hurricanes captaincy, it’s been a really good thing on a selfish level in taking me out of my own game.
“In the past, (I could) zone in on myself and get really intrinsic or focused on my own game and results. I think it’s been a really good thing for me in taking me out of my own world and trying to focus on 10 other guys as well.
“And I also learn a lot off ‘Dwarsh’ (Ben Dwarshuis) and ‘X’ (Xavier Bartlett) and obviously we’ve got the big boys still around – not at the moment – but for most of the other series.
“It’s not like I know all the tricks, and I’ve got all the secrets; it’s a pretty collaborative approach.”
Ellis, who was also a travelling reserve during Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup triumph, said his three games in 2024 in the Caribbean, where he took four wickets against Oman, Namibia and Scotland, had him well-equipped for managing the high-stakes nature of the world’s premier T20 tournament.
“World Cup tournaments are very different to bilateral series when you have one strategy meeting at the start and play the same team game after game,” he said.
“(At a World Cup) we’ve got different opponents every second or third day.
“The West Indies was a great learning experience for me. I managed to get to the UAE one (2021) as the traveling reserve as well, so I’ve been around it a little bit now and I know how exciting a prospect a World Cup is.
“For me now, I just want to be fit and get on the park for every game and then try and win games for Australia.”
2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Australia squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Sean Abbott
Australia’s Group Stage fixtures
February 11: v Ireland, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (8:30pm AEDT)
February 13: v Zimbabwe, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (4:30pm AEDT)
February 16: v Sri Lanka, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 17, 12:30am AEDT)
February 20: v Oman, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 21, 12:30am AEDT)
Australia’s Super Eight fixtures
(Assuming all seeded teams qualify)
February 23: Australia (X2) v West Indies (X3), Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Feb 24, 12:30am AEDT)
February 26: India (X1) v Australia (X2), MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai (Feb 27, 12:30am AEDT)
March 1: Australia (X2) v South Africa (X4), Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, 8:30pm AEDT
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
