Australia add young all-rounder Connolly to squad ahead of India semifinal clash

All-rounder Cooper Connolly came in place of the injured Matthew Short in Australia’s ICC Men’s Champions Trophy squad.

Short suffered an injury during the Afghanistan encounter in the Champions Trophy, and was seen struggling on the field.

Short injured his calf while fielding and appeared hampered when making a quickfire 20 at the top of Australia’s batting order before rain saw the match with Afghanistan in Lahore being abandoned.

“I think he’ll be struggling,” Australia captain Steve Smith had said of Short’s injury status. “I think we saw tonight he wasn’t moving very well and I think it’s probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover.”

Connolly has thus far featured in six internationals for Australia, of which three have been ODIs. He’s a left-handed batter, who bowls left-arm spin as well.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa.