Perth Scorchers bowling coach Tim MacDonald believes young gun Cooper Connolly has the potential to be a three-format player after receiving a test call up for Australia. 

The 21 year-old has been widely regarded one of the brightest Australian Cricket prospects after a whirlwind 12 months which has culminated in his maiden test squad appearace. 

Connolly will head to Sri Lanka later this month as part of the 16-man test squad, led by Steve Smith as a spin-bowling all-rounder option for the side. 

The West Aussie made his white ball debut for Australia against England back in September, and featured against India A in the Australia A side head of the Border-Gavaskar series this summer. 

He is a chance to debut, should Australia opt for a spinning all-rounder, given the nature of the Sri Lankan playing surfaces. 

Speaking to SportFM following the call up, MacDonald has expressed his confidence in the young all-rounder’s ability and cricket IQ. 

“He’s a very talented guy who’s actually got some really good cricket smarts,” he said.

“It’s a really hard thing to do in this day and age as a young guy is to try and make yourself into a three format player. I think he’s definitely got the skills and the attitude to do that. 

“We’ve seen him in Shield cricket and how well he can bat the middle order. We’ve seen his bowling come along. He’s still got some work to do on that but it’s developing pretty nicely.

“He’s captained his country at an under 19 level and he just adds so much to any team he plays in. He’s got that fearless nature about him where he can come in when we’re in trouble and take the game on. 

“(He’s a) crucial cricketer for the Perth Scorchers and a big talent to watch for Australia going forward.” 

Currently, Connolly also sits atop the BBL Golden Bat count, with 272 runs across seven innings, averaging 54.40 and playing a crucial role in the Perth Scorchers’ batting set up.

But while Connolly has been flying, the Scorchers as a whole have had a less than ideal season, losing winnable games, including two back-to-back home games against Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades.

Perth were in the boxseat to come away with comfortable wins, and see them anchored to the top half of the ladder. However, these losses could be the difference between finals qualification or missing out for the fourth time in club history. 

“We just probably, in all facets, we’ve struggled to find consistency, haven’t we,” said MacDonald. 

“There’s been moments of brilliance and moments of stuff that is really sub-par, so we’re just trying to find consistency in the batting. We’ve seen some really brilliant innings. 

“Ashton Agar was excellent rescuing us the other night and has been really good at times. Cooper Connolly as well. We just need to find a bit more consistency with our batting, so we can put a few more runs on the board more often. 

“Our bowling innings, we’ve been brilliant for at least 10 overs in every bowling innings and then if we’ve had three games in a row now, we’ve been poor at the back end. 

“We’re looking really hard into that and ways that we can clean that up because we need to be better at the death with the ball, and all the guys know that.”  

The Scorchers have lost their last two games in the final over, which is uncharacteristic for them given their reputation with the ball. 

Jason Behrendorff (12) is second in the leading wicket takers count, while Lance Morris (10) and Jhye Richardson (8), sit in the top 10. 

MacDonald believes the Scorchers can still make finals if the bowling at the back end is tidied up.

“As we said, like statistically, when you put all things together, we’re probably still being the best bowling side in the comp. 

“It’s just really the last five overs in the last few games that let us down a bit. With Ashton Agar back in the fold now and up and going, he’s been brilliant for us through the middle with his dot ball pressure. 

“If we can keep taking wickets at the top, build that pressure through the middle and then just finish off these games, I think, you know, that’s probably the recipe for success in these last three. “

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