If you thought Sam Konstas was inexperienced with 11 first-class matches after breaking into the Australian team, his next debutant could be just four matches to his name when he gets the baggy green and The first first-class wicket may come. in a test.

“I was big on somebody like Cooper who could spin the ball,” Smith said. “You see India playing in India and they have Axar (Patel) and (Ravindra) Jadeja, if one of their spinners gets tired or something doesn’t happen, they can turn to the other spinner. It’s really Gets along well.”

Connolly, who revealed he took a 10-year-old photo of himself with Smith at the WACA after his call-up, won’t be expected to play the role of the specialist spinners, but is confident. How is their bowling? Thrives despite limited opportunities.

“I think my bowling is quite high at the moment,” he said. I like to think that. “It’s something that will get me a place in teams around the world and hopefully more opportunities for Australia. Think my bowling has come a long way in the last 18 months so I’m happy that Where is it?”

It was around 9pm when Connolly received the phone call to let him know he had made the squad. “Saw Tony Dodemide’s name pop up and thought there could only be one thing,” he said. “(It was a) good phone call, went straight to mom and dad, mom was going to cry. I’ll never forget that moment. Dream come true.”

This was a theme picked up by selectors George Bailey when the squad was announced. “Technically, we like it,” he said.

Connolly would have played Shield cricket before last season’s final but for a boating accident, and a couple more matches if not for the broken hand he suffered in the ODI against Pakistan in Perth. He scored half-centuries in each of his first three Shield matches and featured in the Australia A-India A series before being switched to the ODI squad.

While Connolly’s bowling has been a big part of his selection, batting is clearly his strong suit, even there he continues to learn on the run, especially when it comes to switching between formats. Sri Lanka will need to go to Sri Lanka. BBL where he is currently the highest run scorer.

“I haven’t done a lot of it (changing formats) so I’m still learning but I think it will be about the fact that I like to be an aggressive player in red ball cricket as well,” he said. “So it’s just about taking it down a bit from T20 and still playing the way that got me to this level.”

As the game offers a glimpse into Australia’s next generation, Connolly praised the way he began his Test career. “Watching him (Jasprit) Bumrah play ramp shots, it’s interesting; I won’t do that,” he said with a smile. “He has brought so much energy to this team, they already had so much energy, but he just brings something different, the way he plays is honest, he is brave enough to bowl Bumrah three times in one over. Can ramp up. There’s a good chance to go there and hopefully bring some more energy with it.”

Whether or not Connolly plays, he will use this opportunity in Sri Lanka to learn as much as he can from the experienced players.

“I will probably sit in Travis Head’s pocket like I did during the ODI and T20 series,” he said. “It’s going to be exciting just to be with some of the players that I was watching playing Test cricket at the WACA 10 years ago. I actually took a picture from 10 years ago, it was a picture of me and Steve Smith, So it was great thinking I could run away with it.”