Whateley: It’s time to get Connolly’s Test career going

SEN Cricket’s Gerard Whateley has voiced his support for Cooper Connolly to get his chance in the Test side but has also called for greater acknowledgement of the selection panel who have selected a team that is currently atop the World Test Championship rankings.

Speaking on SENQ Breakfast, Whateley believes this is the right time for 23-year-old Connolly get back into the XI.

“It's time to get Connolly's Test career going, and if (the Aussies) came out of South Africa and went, ‘Renshaw's a lock, and Connolly's shown us that he's ready and could play the bulk of the tests against New Zealand at home,’ that would be a huge.

“This is no knock on Webster at all, but just for the moment he looks superfluous to needs.

“It looks like the next test match is going to be wet, so I don't think it'll be an attritional game across five days.

“It's more likely to be sporadic with perhaps 3.5 days of action.

“So, if you don't need Webster to carry a load with the bowling, his batting's just not quite good enough right now to demand a place as the sixth best batter.”

“I actually thought that's what they would have done here (in Durban), they would have opened with Renshaw and played Connolly in the middle order. If that opportunity opens again, I think they would take it.”

However, Whateley made a point to acknowledge that the Australian selectors continue to pick teams that are winning games today, as opposed to just focusing on the future.

“I think there's a really keen strategic eye to what they're doing, and the part that I absolutely agree with, they're trying to win what's in front of them now, and this suite of Test matches across the next 10 months,” Whateley said.

“This is the (World Test) Championship time, these are grand finals, this is not the time to blood (youth).

“(The selectors) are experimenting in their own way, but they're choosing the path that they want, so I think they have a plan that they absolutely believe in, and we don't necessarily follow it and understand it on the outside.

“I reckon the recent record of this selection and coaching panel has been excellent, of pulling the right rein at the right time.

“I do feel like they're entitled to a little more credit and a little more trust than happens day to day in our debates.”