Nathan Ellis is making the most of time at home with his newborn son, knowing a punishing summer cricket schedule looms that will barely allow him time to catch his breath.
The Australian fast bowler and Hobart Hurricanes skipper became a father on September 26 when partner Connie gave birth to “Big Bash final baby” Reggie Roy.
“It’s been an amazing 10 days,” Ellis said. “Definitely a bit of a deer in the headlights for the first few nights.”
The 31-year-old missed three matches in New Zealand to be there for the birth, with Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania granting him compassionate leave.
But the break is short-lived. A relentless schedule awaits with a home series against India, the Big Bash title defence, tours of Pakistan and a T20 World Cup.
“From now, for me personally, it’s cricket, cricket, cricket,” he said.
The upcoming India series looms large, with Ellis set to play his first ODI cricket in Australia outside the Top End series – followed by five T20 internationals.
“Any time you play India, it’s an exciting prospect,” he said. “You’re putting yourself up against the best in international cricket.”
A T20 match in Hobart carries extra meaning for the Tasmanian quick.
“I hold Hobart pretty close to my heart, so any chance I get to play down here for Australia, I circle that one in the calendar,” Ellis said.
As for defending the Big Bash crown, Ellis is keeping things in perspective.
“I don’t look at us and say we’re so much better than anyone else,” he said.
“We played some really good cricket. We had some luck. We won every game at home. I won a lot of tosses and we were really lucky with injury.”
Now in peak physical shape, Ellis credits better workload management after learning “the hard way” about saying yes to everything.
While shield cricket remains close to his heart, Ellis has made peace with his white-ball focus.
“Test cricket is probably not on the horizon, so my sole focus is to play for Australia for as long as I can in the T20 and the one-day space,” he said.
