In the semi-final at Dubai on March 4, Mohammed Shami ended Cooper Connolly’s Champions Trophy debut in a nine-ball duck.
Australia drafted 21-year-old Connolly into their Champions Trophy squadto replace the injured Matthew Short. For the semi-final against India, they picked him ahead of Jake Fraser-McGurk. Connolly had played for Australia only six times before this (all of them since September 2024), but that includes all three formats.
The Dubai surface has assisted spin in this tournament. It can be assumed that Connolly’s ability to bowl left-arm spin went in his favour.
At the match, Connolly stepped out to open batting with Travis Head after Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat. He got strike after three balls in Mohammed Shami’s first over, and defended the next two balls without much fuss. Off the last, he swung and missed.
READ: Champions Trophy 2025 live streaming: How to watch in India, UK, USA and worldwide
After Head played out the second over, from Hardik Pandya, Connolly faced Shami again. He played and missed the first five balls (four outside the bat, one inside). He tried to hit the last ball of the over and edged it, and KL Rahul held the ball very low.
The Indian fielders went up in unison, and Rohit Sharma reviewed when the on-field umpire ruled not out. India got the decision in their favour.
At the time of writing, Australia were 72-2 in 14 overs with Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne at the crease.
