JACKSON BARRETT: Aussie selectors should take Cooper Connolly on Sri Lanka Test tour

There is growing momentum behind a push for West Australian whiz kid Cooper Connolly to tour Sri Lanka with the Test squad later this month.

Connolly, the best player in the Big Bash League this season at the tender age of 21, has emerged as a candidate to travel for the two Tests in Galle as a spin-bowling all-rounder.

Australia are set to take three frontline spinners, with Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann in line to team up with Nathan Lyon.

But they also took Glenn Maxwell on their most recent tour of the island nation three years ago and Connolly looms as the best like-for-like option if they were to keep that balance.

Connolly’s hopes likely hinge on Australia taking two all-rounders, with seam bowling big man Beau Webster all but locked in after his stunning Test debut against India in Sydney last week.

It is expected selectors will confirm a 16-man squad this week, probably on Thursday. The group will then head to the UAE for a 10-day camp before the first Test on January 29.

The race for a spot is likely to be between a reserve bowler, a reserve batter and a second all-rounder. Which could implicate Connolly, Josh Inglis, teen sensation Sam Konstas, Sean Abbott and Jhye Richardson.

That group is set to heavily lean on the country’s best players of spin, with Peter Handscomb likely to be included after he was added to the party in Sydney.

Connolly has some experience on the subcontinent. As a teenager he travelled to the intensive MRF Academy in Chennai were players are put through their paces against spin. He also starred on lower wickets in the West Indies during the 2022 Under-19 World Cup.

He has played just four first-class matches since scoring 90 on debut in last year’s shield final, but averages 61.80 with the bat. That includes one match for Australia A against India A in November.

A number of Test greats have come out in support of Connolly being added to the squad, including former spinner Kerry O’Keefe and ex-opener Ed Cowan.

O’Keefe said Connolly was part of a generation that made him confident the uber-successful but ageing national team had enough in the cupboard.

“There are still question marks over people like Marnus Labuschagne, maybe, but players like Cooper Connolly are emerging, so we’re in a pretty good position,” he told Fox Sports.

“The bowling unit will go for another 12 months and there’s enough good players like Cooper Connolly coming through to ensure that batting spots, when they become available, are taken up by people with a lot of talent.”

Cowan has called for Australia to assess its stocks in the middle order during this tour, with their spot in the World Test Championship final already sealed.

“They have secured a place in the World Test Championship, let’s have a look ahead to the Ashes and actually say ‘who is going to be a part of that series and how do we start formulating our team for that?’,” he told The Grandstand Cricket Podcast.

“So you can see a world where Travis Head potentially opens in Sri Lanka, Beau Webster becomes the third seamer rather than the fourth and so there is an opportunity to play a few more middle-order players, whether that’s a (Matthew) Renshaw or whoever we think is the future of the Australian Test team, in a pretty low-risk environment.

“So what if they lose a Test in Sri Lanka, the ball is going to turn, let’s chock it full of spinners, let’s chock it full of batters, give the fast bowlers a rest and let’s get some time into these young players who have never been to the subcontinent, but we are going to expect them to perform when they go to India next.

“Let’s be more thoughtful around Cooper Connolly. In great form in the Big Bash, yes, but great little batter, bowls some spin, great fielder. If you are ever going to experiment with the team in the subcontinent, a two-Test series in Galle is it.”

Connolly will play for Perth Scorchers on Tuesday night in a crunch clash against Melbourne Renegades. The left-hander has shot into the Scorchers’ top order again this summer after an unsuccessful attempt at the top of the order last season.

He is already 30 runs ahead of Marcus Stoinis at the top of the run-scoring charts and has played one less innings.

Scorchers coach Adam Voges said last week the club had not been given any indications if Connolly would tour, but said his emerging star was up for it.

“I think with the left-arm spin skillset, I think that’s something the selectors have openly spoken about. He provides that, he provides an all-round option, so I’d be surprised if he is not in the conversation,” he said.

“We haven’t had any indication either way, but if Coop continues the form he is showing at the moment, I think he will give himself every opportunity.

“He hasn’t played a lot of shield cricket this year, but when he has done he has done well too. He wouldn’t look out of place on that tour.”

If Connolly was selected, he would miss the Scorchers’ finals campaign. Inglis, who is recovering from a calf strain, is also expected to be fit to tour and is the incumbent reserve batter, while Richardson was the back-up bowler for the final two Tests of the home summer and could be included as well.

Perth regained Mitch Marsh for Tuesday night’s clash with the Renegades and there is a chance he misses the Sri Lanka trip after being jumped by Webster.

JACKSON BARRETT’S 16-PLAYER SQUAD FOR SRI LANKA

Batters

Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Sam Konstas, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk)

All-rounders

Beau Webster, Cooper Connolly

Bowlers

Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott

Unlucky to miss out

Peter Handscomb, Jhye Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli