New Delhi, March 14 (IANS) Ahead of marking his return for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, young Australia all-rounder Cooper Connolly said he realised why Mohammed Shami is a world-class pacer when he was dismissed by him in the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai.
Connolly was slotted into the team as an opener in place of injured Matt Short, as he was worked over by Shami’s mastery and eventually nicked off him for a nine-ball duck. In the bowling innings, after dropping Rohit Sharma at backward point, Connolly redeemed himself when he trapped the Indian skipper lbw and got his maiden wicket in international cricket.
“As a kid, you always want to represent your country, and to walk out there in a semi-final was an unbelievable experience, and I’ll take a lot of learnings from it. Shami is a world class player for a reason. He’s played a lot of cricket.
“In the end, it was a great game of cricket and I think we took a lot of learnings as a group from that. 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.
“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,” Connolly was quoted as saying by ICC on Friday.
Before being called up for the Champions Trophy, Connolly also made his Test debut for Australia on the tour of Sri Lanka, a moment he said will be forever etched in his memory. “Getting my Baggy Green and then to play a game in the Champions Trophy, it was a dream come true … hopefully there’s plenty more to come. I felt like it wasn’t really a surprise. I felt like if I was going to play, I’d earned my opportunity.”
Connolly signed off by saying he wishes to play more games for Australia in international cricket. “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.”
–IANS
nr/