Young gun Cooper Connolly appears to be on the verge of earning his baggy green as Australia mull over a change ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka.
Multiple reports out of Galle have suggested Connolly will come into the line-up, however whose spot he should take remains unclear.
Todd Murphy struggled for rhythm during the first Test while Beau Webster’s bowling was not required.
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Speaking to reporters on the eve of the match, captain Steve Smith declared “I can’t see the top six changing”, leaving Webster and Murphy as the two most likely in danger.
“Same as last Test, we’re going to wait pretty late and see what the wicket looks like,” he said in reference to naming a team.
“It looked a little bit drier yesterday, for two days out compared to the first one.”
Asked if more spin was on the cards, Smith was keeping his own close to his chest.
“It’s possible. All options are on the table, we’re going to leave it late, (but) we’ve got the resources here if we need it,” he said.
The captain then went on to praise Connolly, who is yet to take a first class wicket from four matches.
“It’s another batter who bowls more than handy spin and spins the same way as (Matt) Kuhnemann.
“So we’ve got a few that go the same way as Nathan (Lyon) and Todd (Murphy), and I only used Heady for two overs and he’s been pretty good in these conditions as well.
“It’s another option to potentially go the other way.
“From what I’ve seen in the nets he bowls some really good balls.
“He was pretty consistent where he was bowling in Dubai (at the pre-Test training camp) and in the nets here, and that’s kind of all you’ve got to do in these conditions.
“Just try and bowl as many good balls in a good area, and just let the conditions take over.
“I think he’s only bowled (16) first-class overs back in Australia but it’s entirely different the way you bowl (here), and the way he does bowl and the way it comes out suits him quite nicely.”
Whether Connolly comes in for Murphy though remains to be seen, with Smith offering an intriguing reply when speaking to SEN about whether the dryness of the pitch means they can play two frontline spinners.
“Possibly. Or three frontline spinners and him (Connolly) maybe as well,” he said.
“There’s plenty of options we can go down, we’ll wait and see.”