australia cricket

CSK Star Reveals How He Mastered The Art Of Bowling Slower Balls

Ashish Satyam

Last updated: August 19, 2025

3 min read

Nathan Ellis has become one of the most prominent fast bowlers for Australia, especially in white ball formats. The right-arm pace bowler started his T20I career with a hat-trick, four years ago against Bangladesh.

On the back of his deceptive bowling style, he has earned a reputation as one of the premier white-ball bowlers for Australia. Be it back of the hand delivery, cutters, slower ones, he does it all with ease.

What Makes Nathan Ellis Unique?

In the recently passed T20I series against the West Indies, Ellis starred with the ball as he conceded runs at an economy rate of just 7.88 across five matches. Talking about the ODI cricket, the right-arm pacer has an economy rate of 4.69, which is the best by an Australian ever since the 2023 ODI World Cup.

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Australia is known for its lethal bowling attack in the form of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins. But then Nathan Ellis chips in with a different threat. He can deceive you at any given point in time.

“I would say I’m quite unique, if you look at us as a bowling group. You’ve got me and Josh Hazlewood bowling at either end. We couldn’t be more different,” Ellis told cricket.com.au’s Unplayable Podcast in Cairns.

Nathan Ellis’ Most Treasured Weapon

One of the major reasons as to why Ellis has been so successful in the white bowl formats is his tricky bowling. He has aced the art of bowling with a lot of variations. He knows when to bowl a slower one, and on the back of that, he has been getting results. During the T20I series against West Indies in July, Ellis picked three out of six wickets through his slower deliveries.

“I think I’m lucky with my action. I’ve got a fast arm speed and a little bit of a frog-in-the-blender type (action), as I’ve been called before. It took me a long time to bowl it confidently. I remember bowling it at grade cricket in Sydney at training and probably one in every three would hit the roof or hit the side net. It took me a long time to get the courage to bowl it in a game, but I remember responding to it really well straight away. That became one of the balls I would fall back on when things aren’t going well,” he said.

Nathan Ellis has been a regular face in the IPL, also. The 30-year-old bowler was roped in by the Chennai Super Kings for a massive 2 crore at the 2025 IPL Auction, after playing for Punjab Kings for four seasons. He played only a match where he bowled 4 overs, conceded 38 runs, and scalped a wicket.