Australia Faces Pace Dilemma Nathan Ellis Sidelined with Injury, Riley Meredith Joins T20 Squad

According to the details, Ellis suffered a hamstring injury during his time at London Spriti in The Hundred last month and as a result, missed Australia’s T20I series opener against Scotland.

Ellis’ Tasmanian teammate Riley Meredith, who made his international return after a gap of more than two years in Australia’s seven-wicket victory over Scotland, will now remain a part of the Australia squad for the three-match T20I series against England.

His replacement for the five-match ODI series against England, however, will be announced in due course.

Nathan Ellis was supposed to lead Australia’s inexperienced pace attack against Scotland in the absence of the senior trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood.

Cummins and Starc will miss Australia’s both T20I series while Hazlewood will return for the England assignment.

“This was one of the series that I had earmarked for a long period knowing the schedule and the demand it would have on a lot of the guys,” Ellis had said.

“Any time I get the Aussie jersey on I’m pumped, so the longer I can keep wearing it the better.”

It is pertinent to mention that Nathan Ellis is the third Australian pacer to get injured ahead of the white-ball UK tour as Spencer Johnson was sidelined due to a side strain while Hazlewood suffered a minor right calf strain.

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood (England games only), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith (Scotland games only), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.