Steve Smith-led Australia have suffered a big blow with star all-rounder being ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against India in Dubai on Tuesday.
ODI world champions Australia have suffered a major blow with all-rounder Matthew Short ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal match against India. The last four clash between India and Australia will take place at the Dubai International Stadium (DIS) on Tuesday (March 4).
Short was ruled out of the tournament after suffering an injury to his quadriceps while fielding against Afghanistan in Australia’s last Group B match in Lahore last week. Short notched up a vital 63 at the top of the order in Australia’s first match of the tournament against England with the world champions chasing over 350 to win.
The opener had also scored 20 off 15 balls, while looking uncomfortable while batting against Afghanistan before getting dismissed. Australia’s final game against Afghanistan was washed out due to rain which helped them qualify for the semifinals with one win over England and two points from matches washed out against South Africa and Afghanistan.
ICC has approved Cooper Connolly’s inclusion in the Australian squad after Matt Short was ruled out #ChampionsTrophy
More: https://t.co/IAGZXiAJCd pic.twitter.com/kaNvWAvkiN
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 2, 2025
All-rounder Cooper Connolly has been selected to replace Short and ICC technical committee approved the change on Monday morning.
“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. 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,” an ICC release said.
The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the player can be officially added to the squad. The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 consists of Wasim Khan (ICC General Manager – Cricket), Sarah Edgar (ICC Senior Manager – Events), Usman Wahla (PCB Director – International Cricket Operations), Shaun Pollock (Independent Representative).
Connolly, who made his ODI debut in England last year, was initially named as a travelling reserve for the tournament. He has 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.
“I think we saw tonight he wasn’t moving very well. I think it’s probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover,” captain Steve Smith had told Prime Video.
Steve Smith-led Australia will be training at the ICC Academy from 630pm local time on Monday and against from 830pm to 930pm at the Dubai International Stadium. Team India, who defeated New Zealand in their last Group A match on Sunday match, will not be training ahead of their Tuesday’s semifinal match.
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.
