‘I want to be aggressive’: Connolly takes Travis Head approach as Test opportunity opens

Durban: Cooper Connolly has declared his aspiration to emulate the batting pyrotechnics of Travis Head as he prepares for a possible Test match call-up on what’s expected to be a turning pitch at Kingsmead this week.

Recently turning 23, Connolly has been a consistent presence in Australian squads over the past 18 months, granted multiple opportunities to learn – and to fail – in foreign conditions as he moulds his game.

Cameron Green is under a cloud due to an abdominal strain, meaning there may well be a middle-order spot available in Durban, with Connolly likely up against the more seasoned Nic Maddinson, 34, for a spot in the absence of Josh Inglis (broken finger).

Selectors George Bailey and Andrew McDonald will thus have a clear choice between youth and experience.

With his left-arm spin as a useful second string, Connolly has firm views about how he wants to play, and fellow left-hander Head looms large in his thinking.

“He’s unbelievable. Over the last couple of years, I’ve watched him play Test cricket, and he’s been that aggressive and changed games. And that’s something I want to be,” Connolly said. “There might be time and a place where the game is asking something else, but I watch him a little bit and try to understand how he goes about it.

“We’re slightly different players, but that’s sort of how I want to approach my game. Similar to Trav, I want to take the game on. I want to score runs, I want to impose myself. I want to be aggressive. I want to put the bowlers back under pressure.

“Speaking to Trav over the last year and a bit, just understanding how he wants to go about it and how he thinks out there. I think Trav’s someone that stands out for me, how I want to play my game.”

Connolly was just 21 when he made his Test debut in Sri Lanka in early 2025, and at the time he was still wrestling with how to handle spin bowling in the initial phase of his innings. He’s used those experiences to learn, beginning a routine of making regular batting notes at home in Perth before each assignment.

“I’ll sit down at home in Perth ... and write down what I want to achieve out of this,” he said. “I first started it before the [2026] IPL because I’d obviously had a tough period before then. It was just [contemplating] what do I want to get out of this, whether I’m playing or not playing. How can I come back a better cricketer?

“And if I play, what’s my method, and how do I want to do it? What are some key words that are going to help me approach every innings the same, so it’s not searching for things in every innings. It’s consistency throughout the whole series.

“I think I went in to Sri Lanka a little bit raw and trying to still play the same way, where it sometimes doesn’t work because it spins a little bit more, and you get beaten and stumped or something like that. Committing to a method, for me, in those conditions has been the big one.”

Tellingly, the routine caught the interest of white-ball skipper Mitchell Marsh, who told Connolly he wished he had been similarly fastidious as a younger player.

“‘Bison’ (Marsh) said to me ‘the one thing I regret is not writing down notes when I was your age because it’s something to look back on when things were going well’,” Connolly said. “Understanding that yeah, these things that you look back on and have helped you progress to the cricketer you are now, you look back and you go, OK, that’s how I played the game then, and you don’t lose that.

“That’s probably the one thing that stood out when Bison said that to me. I was like, yeah, that’s not a bad idea, and I’ve already been doing it, but it’s just something that sort of needed a little bit of reinforcing to understand that the older guys actually wish they did it when they were younger.”

Like Steve Smith 15 years ago, Connolly understands that his spin bowling might help him in a tight selection squeeze, but maintains that ultimately it will be his batting that flourishes.

“I see myself as a batting all-rounder,” he said. “I didn’t used to put a lot of time into it. I just thought left-arm spin was pretty easy, but there’s actually a bit more to spin bowling.

“I think it’s just understanding that my batting is my one wood, so making sure I’m still knuckling down and nailing all that. But then on the spin side, making sure I’m progressing my bowling and I’m ready for any sort of situation, any role ... and just being as versatile as possible.”

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