Should Nathan Ellis be a first-choice Australia T20I bowler?

Part of what makes Ellis so good is that he is the complete antithesis of the big three. He doesn't look like he was designed in a lab to bowl fast. While the other three can roll out of bed and send down 140kph thunderbolts from a towering height, Ellis has to sprint in and throw himself at the crease with every fibre of his smaller frame to even nudge the speed gun close to 140kph.

But his lack of height plays in his favour. Very few batters can get under him. On top of having great length control and outstanding yorker skills, even when he misses it is hard for the best hitters in the world to get enough leverage under his skiddy trajectory to clear the rope. Australia and West Indies struck a combined 117 sixes in the recent five-match series, the second-most in a bilateral series, and Ellis conceded just three. And they are the only three he's conceded in his last 10 T20Is.

One of the weaknesses of Australia's big three in T20 cricket, especially on subcontinental pitches, is that their well-honed natural Test match length combined with their higher release points can make their on-speed deliveries sit up on a tee for power-hitters when they miss their spots.

Ellis also has a greater range of slower balls, and an ability to make dramatic speed changes without giving the batters many cues. The first ball he bowled in the series in the Caribbean, having bowled only four overs in a match in the previous five months, was a 114kph back-of-the-hand slower ball that beat Shai Hope. His next delivery 139kph at the top of off stump cost a single only.

His management also speaks to his importance to Australia's plans. He is the only white-ball specialist seamer currently on Australia's central contract list.

In 2023, when he wasn't centrally contracted, he played 53 T20s globally across the BBL, IPL, T20 Blast, the Hundred and T20Is and had his highest calendar year economy rate across the last five years. In 2024, he went straight from the IPL to the T20 World Cup and then to the Hundred but broke down with a hamstring injury which saw him miss Australia's entire 11-game white-ball tour of the UK.

Earlier this year there was a request from Hurricanes for him to play the Global Super League ahead of the Caribbean tour, but CA knocked it back knowing his importance for that series with the big three set to be rested. He also did not play in the MLC or the Blast, no small sacrifice given the potential earnings available.

He was the only one of Australia's fast bowlers in the five-match, eight-day long series not to be rested despite the final three matches being played in a four-day stretch.

Keeping him fresh allows him to lead the attack in series where the big three are rested, so they in turn can remain fresh for Test duty.

But when all four come together, possibly in October for a short series in New Zealand but most definitely for the T20 World Cup, a difficult selection decision looms.