Australian Pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile Gives Up Test Dream, Quits Red-Ball Cricket

Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile has given up on his Test dreams and has closed doors on playing red-ball cricket further. In a chat with Western Australia, the 31-year-old said that his body doesn’t like backing up day after day.

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“I feel like it’s left me. It’s honestly just a bit hard for me. The body just doesn’t like it, doesn’t like backing up day after day. If I could see a way around it where I could improve my batting to the standard where I could sort of bat at No. 7 and bowl 10 overs a day then I’d think about it but that’s a long way off at the moment,” Coulter-Nile told Western Australian on Wednesday.

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Coulter-Nile came close to a Test selection back in 2017, ahead of the home Ashes series. Though a back injury meant his dream to play Ashes was quashed. His last first-class tie came for Western Australia against Tasmania in 2017. Later, he got injured and never played red-ball cricket. Coulter-Nile scalped 124 wickets in 37 first-class matches he played.

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He becomes the second Australian cricketer in 2019 to give up red-ball cricket. In February this year, leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed had also given up red-ball cricket in order to make a case for selection in the T20 World Cup squad that takes place next year.

Coulter-Nie is a regular in white-ball cricket and was a part of the squad at World Cup 2019. In five matches, he scalped 4 wickets. His innings of 92 off 60 against West Indies was the highlight of the tournament as that saw Australia stretch their score to 288 after being five down at 79. They famously won that match by 15 runs.

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He has played 32 ODIs so far in which he has scalped 52 wickets. In 28 T20Is, he has 34 wickets. Considering his style of bowling, Coulter-Nile will be one of the main weapons for Australia when they host T20 World Cup next year.

Coulter-Nile also confirmed that he has moved to Melbourne Stars for four years in Big Bash League. He had been part of Perth Scorchers right from the inception of the league but a better offer from Melbourne saw him make a switch.

The upcoming season of the T20 league kicks off on December 17.