The hour of Australia v South Africa third T20 that may have decided World Cup pace race

It was just a dead rubber T20 but for two Aussie bowlers, it mattered a lot in terms of ODI World Cup selection. DANIEL CHERNY analyses who prevailed.

When the World Cup is in Asia and Australia is overflowing with seam-bowling all-rounders, it’s not a great time to be a paceman on the fringe of the one-day international side.

From Australia’s 18-man extended squad for the 50-over showpiece, it’s hard to envisage the selectors will pick any more than four frontline quicks, given the all-round depth at hand and the likelihood they will opt for at least two spinners in what will be a whittled down 15-man squad.

If there are four spots, then one of them has to be taken by Pat Cummins, who is the captain. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are the top two ODI bowlers in the world according to the world rankings, not to mention that Starc - with a record of 49 wickets at sub-15 - is arguably the greatest bowler in tournament history.

That leaves just one position, at most.

Sean Abbott has impressed in South Africa and may have boosted his ODI World Cup prospects. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images

In the red corner there is Sean Abbott, a teen prodigy who has overcome unimaginable hardship to become a regular consideration on the edge of the national side across all three formats in his early 30s.

In the blue corner stands Nathan Ellis, just a Sydney grade cricketer until well into his 20s who has turned into one of the country’s most skilful white-ball seamers and a bona fide target for teams on the global franchise circuit.

Both have earned reputations as being strong bowlers in the death overs. On the face of it there is little to split them.

It is a different format, but with all of the big three missing for this three-match T20 series against South Africa, a major opportunity presented itself for both men to stake claims little over a month from the tournament.

Their respective outputs across the first two matches in Durban was very similar. In game one, Abbott took 1-17 off two overs while Ellis finished with 0-11 from his couple of overs. The next match, both players sent down their full allotments; Ellis taking 3-25 and Abbott 3-22.

It is a trap in T20 cricket to compare the figures of players who bowl in different phases of the match, but Ellis and Abbott, neither of whom took the new ball across games one or two, had been bowling in close to identical conditions: against the same players at similar stages of the game.

In an era where at any given time players from the same national side can be playing on three different continents across separate formats, this was about as good a match race as could be conducted.

Nathan Ellis would be a World Cup fairytale but may have just dipped out of contention. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Again it was the case on Sunday, the dead rubber third match at Kingsmead; a game unlikely to be remembered by many come Wednesday, let alone in a few years’ time.

But for Ellis and Abbott, it mattered a lot. Such are the margins in the race for the fourth place on the pace grid, that every moment counts.

Both were introduced at the back end of the power play after the Proteas batted first. Ellis went for 10 off his first over, Abbott 14. Abbott was then clubbed for 12 by a rampant Aiden Markram off the first three balls of his next over. The day was quickly getting messy for Abbott. Was this going to be the match that haunted him when the final call has to be made?

He recovered though, finishing the over by claiming Markram for 41, caught at extra cover by Ashton Turner. Slower balls removed Tristan Stubbs and Bjorn Fortuin in the 14th over before Abbott conceded just three off the innings penultimate over, adding the wicket of Gerald Coetzee to finish with 4-31 off his four, an excellent comeback.

For Ellis though, things went the other way, and badly. Proteas debutant Donovan Ferreira feasted on him in the 18th over, a set finished with sixes off the final two legal deliveries of the over, sandwiching a chest-high full toss. It was ugly and by innings’ end, Ellis had been hit for 50 without a wicket.

That can be the lot of a bowler in T20 cricket but the timing could barely be worse on an individual level. It is now clearly advantage Abbott and time is running out for the pecking order to change.

Hazlewood is due back for the one-dayers against South Africa, while Cummins and Starc should return soon enough too. A clubby turned World Cup squad member would have been an extraordinary story but Ellis’ fairytale is slipping away.

Originally published as The hour of Australia v South Africa third T20 that may have decided World Cup pace race