Former Australia captain Tim Paine wants either Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood to make way for Nathan Ellis in playing XI for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. Ellis is one of the four pacers in Australia squad alongside Cummins, Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc.
“I think Australia have a great opportunity, and I hope they take it in this World Cup, and that is to pick Nathan Ellis. He would be my third quick,” Paine said on ESPN’s Around The Wicket podcast.
“I think he just complements the other guys really well, he’s got a different skillset, comes from a different angle, different height, and think some variety in the attack will be really important to win this World Cup,” he added.
The reason Paine provided for Ellis’ inclusion in the playing XI was the bowlers’ all-round skills.
“I’m going to pick one of them and I’m going to go with Nathan Ellis’ all-round skills, his ability to bowl all through the powerplay, I think his slower balls, he’s clever. His international record for the opportunities that he’s been given is outstanding and I think now is the right time…that’s not to say they [Cummins and Hazlewood] are not the best couple of bowlers in the country, they are outstanding bowlers, and will continue to be, I just think Nathan Ellis complements the rest of that attack really, really well,” Paine said.
Australia are placed in Group B along with England, Namibia, Oman and Scotland. They start their campaign on June 5 against Oman before taking on arch-rivals England on June 8. Their next match comes against Namibia on June 11 before playing against Scotland on June 15 in their last group stage match.
The Australia squad is being led by Mitchell Marsh with Cam Green and Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell being the all-rounders.
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