Australia have included spin-bowling allrounder Cooper Connolly in their CHampions Trophy squad to replace injured opener Matt Short, who was ruled out due to quad injury.
The 21-year-old Connolly, who made his ODI debut in England last year, was initially named as a travelling reserve for the tournament
“The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 has approved Cooper Connolly as a replacement for Matthew Short in the Australia squad,” ICC said in a statement.
“Twenty-one-year-old Connolly, who has played three ODIs, was named as a replacement after Short was ruled out due to an injury to his left quadriceps.”
Australia will have to look for a new opener, when they will lock horns against India in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy.
“I think we saw tonight he wasn’t moving very well. I think it’s probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover,” Smith had told Prime Video.
Australia have another spare opener in Jake Fraser-McGurk, but that would leave them short of a bowling option. This could tempt the side to bring in Connolly, whose left-arm spin could be an important asset to have in Dubai.
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Updated Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa, Cooper Connolly.
