On the eve of their T20I series against New Zealand, Australia have copped a major blow, with star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell ruled out with a right wrist fracture sustained in a training session in Mount Maunganui. 

The injury happened in the nets when Maxwell was rolling his arm over to Mitchell Owen, who smashed a ball straight back at Maxwell, hitting him flush on the wrist while the 36-year-old was in extreme pain. Maxwell withdrew from training, where he was later ruled out of the three-match series that commences Wednesday at Bay Oval. 

Teammate Matthew Short, who witnessed the incident, said it was a bad hit. “I just saw it out of the corner of my eye. Owen smoked it, then the aftermath was the ball hit maxi on the wrist. It didn’t sound good,” Short told cricket.com.au. “He’s done injuries before, he was disappointed but he’ll be fine.”

Cricket Australia announced that Maxwell will return home and consult a specialist in the next few days. The indication is he may recover in time for the Big Bash League in December, however his availability for the upcoming T20I series against India later this month, is still very much up in the air.

Another injury in an already injury hit period

With Maxwell unavailable, it only adds to Australia’s concerns, after already losing Josh Inglis with a calf injury, leading to Alex Carey being brought back into the fold. Australia also are without Cameron Green, who has turned his attention to Sheffield Shield cricket, ahead of the Ashes. Pat Cummins has been given some time off due to his ongoing lower back complaints, and Nathan Ellis, who is going to miss a couple of games because he stayed at home as his wife was having their first baby.

In recent years, Maxwell has been on the end of some unfortunate injuries, including a freak leg fracture whilst at a birthday party in 2022 and suffering a concussion after falling from a golf cart during the 2023 World Cup, However, he remained an integral part of Australia’s white ball setup, and had only a few weeks ago, contributed in an important role against South Africa.

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Philippe earns surprise recall

Selectors have named Josh Philippe, the wicketkeeper-batter for the Sydney Sixers, to replace the absent Maxwell. Philippe has not played for Australia since last December and has earned his recall after performing well on the recent Australia A tour of India, where he scored a century in the unofficial Tests.

While Abbotsford is a backup wicketkeeping option along with Carey, Philippe adds depth to the batting group. His international T20 record is not overly impressive to this point–150 runs in 12 innings at an average of 12.5. This series offers Philippe an outstanding chance to resurrect his T20I career and solidify a place for next year’s T20 World Cup.

Updated Australia squad for NZ T20Is

Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matt Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Pure joy for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as two of their foreign talents are doing exceptionally well during their international duties. While most talks are running around young batter Dewald Brevis, Australian seamer Nathan Ellis also is riding high.

 The three-match T20I series between Australia and South Africa turned out to be more intense when they met for the series decider. After scoring a record-breaking century, Brevis again went berserk to score 53 off 26 for South Africa. On the other hand, Nathan Ellis took 3 wickets for Australia. In fact, Ellis is the man who helped Australia to get rid of the dangerous Brevis. In his 4-over spell, the pace bowler got the wickets of Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Brevis, and Senuran Muthusamy.

CSK, from their official social media account, shared a special post to mark Nathan's stunning form with the ball. In their social media post, CSK wrote as a caption, "Ellis treated us to a 3⃣RIPLE delight!" From the beginning of 2025, the 30-year-old has been bowling with consistency for the Australia cricket team.

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Nathan Ellis emerged as one of the major wicket-taking bowlers for Australia 

Before the ongoing South Africa series, Ellis looked promising against the West Indies in back-to-back 5 matches. Nathan Ellis slowly but surely improves his bowling skills according to international standards. The medium-pace bowler has become one of the most lethal bowlers in death overs.

For Australia, Ellis has recently picked up multiple wickets during the closing moments of matches. He played only 1 match for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025 and got a wicket as well.

Ellis treated us to a 3⃣RIPLE delight! 🦁✨#WhistlePodu #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/xcDVtvpjC8

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) August 16, 2025

Another bowler from Australia caught cricket fans' attention through some splendid performances. Nathan Ellis slowly but surely improves his bowling skills according to the international standards. The medium-pace bowler has become one of the most lethal bowlers in death overs. For Australia, Ellis has recently picked up multiple wickets during the closing moments of matches. According to stats, since January 2024, the Australian international in 10 death overs got 9 wickets for an economy rate of only 6.85. 

Now, when rumors related to the Indian Premier League (IPL) have started to circulate across social media platforms, some may feel curious to imagine which IPL franchise Nathan Ellis can be a great fit for. There are some of the IPL teams whose bowling department needs some much-needed repairing ahead of the IPL 2026. 

3 IPL teams that should go for Nathan Ellis:

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Apart from some few individual brilliances, the champion of IPL 2024 failed to perform as a unit in IPL 2025. While Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy looked dependable as usual, overseas pace picks did not click. Neither Spencer Johnson nor Anrich Nortje looked superior on the ground. KKR needs someone, especially in the pace bowling department, who has the wicket-taking abilities. Ellis can be a good fit for the multi-time IPL-winning franchise. 

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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): Another power-packed team that got on the wrong side in IPL 2025. SRH had a rare setback in the previous campaign, and they definitely have to do some repair in the squads. Mostly dependent on batting talents, SRH lacked heavily inbowling strength. Pat Cummins alone can't lead the bowling department for the whole competition. They need some more talents in the squad who can take wickets when the team needs them the most. The wicket-taking ability of Ellis can be helpful for the Hyderabad-based franchise. 

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG): On pen and paper, they looked brilliant. But on the field, they struggled a lot. Mostly dependent on Indian raw talents, LSG required a leader in their bowling attack. Nathan can be the man who can strike from the front.