Follow Us21-year-old Cooper Connolly was a part of Australia’s traveling reserves in the Champions Trophy, and was expected to just ‘learn off the seniors’ whilst warming the bench in the mega event.
However, an injury to Matthew Short meant that Connolly not only got drafted into the squad but was forced to open the batting in the semi-final against a red-hot Mohammed Shami.
In many ways, Connolly was in a ‘nothing to lose, everything to gain’ situation, but it still ended up going horribly wrong for the left-hander, who faced nine balls against Shami, scored zero runs whilst swinging and missing multiple times, and ended up perishing after nicking one to the keeper.
Speaking to reporters back home, the youngster recalled the experience.
"Shami is a world-class player for a reason. He's played a lot of cricket," Connolly said.
"In the end, it was a great game of cricket and I think we took a lot of learnings as a group from that.”
WATCH: Mohammed Shami Ends Cooper Connolly's Painful 9-Ball Stay In Semi-Final
Things went from bad to worse for Connolly when he put down a sitter early in the chase to give Rohit Sharma a reprieve. However, he bounced back strongly, taking out the Indian skipper in the very first over he bowled before finishing with figures of 1/37 off the eight overs he bowled. Connolly, as it turned out, was the pick of the Australian bowlers in the semis.
“It's the game of cricket. You're going to miss out, you're going to drop a catch – you've got to get on with what's in front of you,” he said.
“That [drop off Rohit] was completely out of my mind by the time I was bowling, I was just trying to compete as much as I could and hopefully get a breakthrough for the team,” he added.
At 21, with minimal domestic cricket experience, Connolly has already represented Australia in all three formats. Some back home have expressed displeasure that the all-rounder has been ‘handed opportunities’ without earning them, but the youngster disagreed.
"I felt like it wasn't really a surprise. I felt like if I was going to play, I'd earned my opportunity,” he said.
“I guess it's just about concentrating on what's in front of me at the moment, not looking too far ahead, and just trying to enjoy playing cricket and hopefully put some scores on the board. Hopefully work on my bowling a bit and get an opportunity again.
"Obviously, getting a little taste of it makes you want it more."
