- By Himanshu Badola
- Mon, 03 Mar 2025 09:22 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Australia have suffered a major blow ahead of their semifinal match against India as opener Matt Short has been ruled out of the tournament due to a quad injury. They have named spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly as his replacement in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad.
India and Australia will face off in the first semifinal of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, March 4.
The 21-year-old Connolly, who made his ODI debut in England last year, was initially named as a travelling reserve for the tournament
"The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 has approved Cooper Connolly as a replacement for Matthew Short in the Australia squad," ICC said in a statement.
"Twenty-one-year-old Connolly, who has played three ODIs, was named as a replacement after Short was ruled out due to an injury to his left quadriceps."
Notably, Short suffered an injury during their last group stage encounter against Afghanistan, and was seen struggling on the field. He sustained a calf issue while fielding and looked in discomfort while batting before scoring quickfire 20 during Australia's run chase before rain saw the match in Lahore being abandoned.
The World Champions will now have to look for a new opener alongside Travis Head. They have another spare opener in Jake Fraser-McGurk, but inclusion would leave them short of a bowling option. This could tempt the side to bring in Connolly, whose left-arm spin could turn out to be an important asset to have in Dubai.
Connolly has six international caps to his name for Australia, of which three have been ODIs. He has scored just 10 runs so far and is yet to take an international wicket.
Australia updated ICC Champions Trophy 2025 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.