Cooper Connolly only left-arm spinner in Australian Test squad for Sri Lanka after Matt Kuhnemann injury

Hopes of West Australian young gun Cooper Connolly making a Test debut in Sri Lanka have received a major boost, with left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann in a race to be fit for the tour. Kuhnemann injured his thumb playing for Brisbane Heat on Thursday evening and had surgery on Friday. The injury comes just days before Australia leaves for a 10-day training camp in Dubai, with players leaving across Saturday and Sunday around their Big Bash League schedules. While he is no chance of leaving the country in time for that camp, Kuhnemann has not been ruled out of the series itself. But Connolly has firmed for a Test debut because he is the only other left-arm spinner picked. Stand-in captain Steve Smith, who pushed for Connolly to be in the squad, has stressed he is keen on a bowler to spin the ball away from right-handers. If Kuhnemann is ruled out altogether, selectors would likely need to turn to a wrist-spin option, which would make New South Welshman Tanveer Sangha the leading candidate. The West Australian has been told people close to Connolly were not expecting him to play in the series, but there is a now a real chance he lands in Australia’s side. Connolly could play as part of a two or three-pronged spin attack, depending on if Australia pick one or two frontline pacemen. Teammate Marnus Labuschagne, who is also on the tour, said he was devastated for Heat and former Queensland teammate Kuhnemann. “It doesn’t look great. I really feel for him. It’s someone I’m close to and he’s grown so much with his bowling and in Sri Lanka, he’s probably one of the first picked over there. I’m really gutted,” he said post-match. WA spinner Corey Rocchiccioli is the other highly-rated spinner in domestic cricket, but Smith as captain and selectors are likely to put a high-price on players that spin the ball the other way, rather than taking a third off-spinner with Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy all in the squad. Fellow West Aussie Ashton Agar is the next best left-arm orthodox bowler in the country. The five-Test spinner played returned to first-class cricket after more than a year during the first half of WA’s Sheffield Shield season. When picking Connolly, Australian selection chief George Bailey said there’s “lots to like” about him and that he was “picked for a reason. “Technically, we like it. Temperament, we like. Character, we like. Clearly, skill set, there’s a lot to like there as well,” he said. Smith revealed last week he sat down with head coach Andrew McDonald and selector Tony Dodemaide after the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test and made his case for Connolly. I was quite big on someone like Cooper coming in to be able to spin the ball away,” he said. “You watch India play and they have Axar (Patel) and (Ravindra) Jadeja, when one of their spinners gets tired or nothing is happening they can turn to another spinner and I like the fit, just having a couple of spinners each way, it sort of matches up really nicely.”