Perth young gun has grabbed his chance at No.3 in BBL|14 with Aaron Hardie injured
Cool Connolly's 'maturity' on show in new Scorchers role
Cooper Connolly may have rose to prominence with his power hitting exploits in the middle-order but it's his adaptability at the top that is helping him to a career-best Big Bash season.
Just four games into KFC BBL|14 and the free-flowing left-hander has already levelled his runs tally from last season (181) and hit his first two half-centuries in the T20 format.
He's also leading the BBL|14 run scoring a third of the way through the tournament, having made the most of his opportunity to start the season at No.3 for the Perth Scorchers with Aaron Hardie sidelined due to a quad injury.
Hardie returned for their Boxing Day win over Brisbane Heat, but it was at No.4 following his 21-year-old teammate's success in the Scorchers' first three matches.
And it's been the differing nature of Connolly runs that has pleased coach Adam Voges.
He started with a blazing 64 against Melbourne Stars before having to grind out 66 featuring six sixes on a difficult batting surface at Marvel Stadium that offered bowlers considerable seam movement for the first 10 overs of the Scorchers innings.
He's also been able to score in different areas as opposition bowlers – armed with more knowledge of his methods – look to take it away from his strengths.
This season he's hit 26 per cent of his runs through third on the off side compared to 12.8 per cent in BBL|13, with runs through square leg (15.8 in BBL|13 compared to 12 per cent in BBL|14) and mid-on (13.5 to 10.7) harder to come by.
Voges says his young allrounder, who earned his maiden T20 and ODI caps for Australia in September, "continues to mature and develop with each opportunity that he gets".
"We hadn't actually pencilled him into bat three at the start of the tournament, but through injuries and a few other things he's got that opportunity and he's done really well," Voges said.
"He's got a really good head on his shoulders … we've seen a couple of mature innings from him now early in the competition.
"You see the maturity in the way that he plays, and we've seen that growth and development in his training and the way that he goes about it.
"He doesn't get flustered too much. We've seen him perform in big moments already.
"As it does for most young players, he just keeps getting better with every experience that he gets, whether that's domestically or abroad.
"For a young guy, he's got some great skill sets and hopefully can keep playing well for us."
Connolly has also taken two wickets with his left-arm spin this season, with Voges adding his flexibility was one of his biggest strengths.
The Scorchers tried Connolly opening the batting to begin last season before he returned to his familiar middle-order finishing role, the position he famously got them home from in the BBL|12 Final in front of more than 50,000 fans at Optus Stadium.
"We've always said that he can bat anywhere in our top seven, and we tried him up the top at the beginning of last season (before) moving him back down through the middle," Voges said.
"Now he's got the opportunity at three and he's doing a great job."
Connolly returned to action in the BBL|14 season opener after breaking his hand against Pakistan last month, which was his first innings in international cricket after he wasn't required with the bat (after being listed at nine) in his first two T20 internationals and at eight in his ODI debut.
He says he initially entered this Big Bash campaign thinking he'd be used in the same No.6 role as last season, but he also prides his game on being "adaptable and able to bat anywhere".
Despite not getting a bat during his first three internationals, he told cricket.com.au that he used his experience with the Australian white-ball squads during September's UK tour to soak in as much as he could.
"It's always nice to watch world-class players train," Connolly said prior to BBL|14.
"Three years ago, I was sitting at home watching going, 'I wish I could play (against) these guys one day'.
"Fast forward three years I'm playing with them and I'm still a little bit starstruck.
"It was such a surreal experience … (watching) how the guys handle themselves around pressure."
The Scorchers win over the Heat on Boxing Day improved their record to 2-2 and put them back inside the BBL|14 top four as they head to Adelaide to take on the Strikers on New Year's Eve.
KFC BBL|14 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
SIX
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.657 | 0 | 6 |
|
2
REN
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.496 | 0 | 4 |
|
3
SCO
|
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.565 | 0 | 4 |
|
4
THU
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.349 | 0 | 4 |
|
5
HEA
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.27 | 0 | 4 |
|
6
HUR
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1.415 | 0 | 4 |
|
7
STR
|
4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -0.013 | 0 | 2 |
|
8
STA
|
5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -1.016 | 0 | 0 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points