Cooper Connolly to replace injured Matthew Short in Australia's Champions Trophy squad

Dubai: Young spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly will replace injured Matthew Short in the Australian squad for the knock-out stages of the ongoing Champions Trophy.

Short was ruled out of the ICC event, being held in Pakistan and Dubai, due to a calf injury sustained during the match against Afghanistan.

The 21-year-old Connolly, who made his ODI debut in England last year, was initially named as a traveling reserve for the tournament.

The ICC's Event Technical Committee approved his inclusion in the Australian squad early on Monday.

Connolly has thus far featured in six internationals for Australia, of which three have been ODIs. He's a left-handed batter, who bowls left-arm spin as well. Short injured his calf on Friday while fielding and appeared hindered when making a quickfire 20 at the top of the order before the match was abandoned due to rain in Lahore.

"I think he'll be struggling," Australia captain Steve Smith had said of Short's injury status.

"I think we saw tonight he wasn't moving very well and I think it's probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover." Australia will face India in the first semifinal of the Champions Trophy here on Tuesday.

Australia squad playing XI

Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa.