Connolly’s 149 Lifts Bangladesh Vs Australia With Dhaka Breakthrough
Cooper Connolly turned bangladesh vs australia in Dhaka with 149 in the third ODI, a 134-ball innings that put his name next to Ricky Ponting and Steve B Smith in Australian one-day history. The 22-year-old became the youngest Australian man since Ponting to reach an ODI hundred, and Bangladesh still completed its first 50-over series win over Australia.
Connolly’s Dhaka marathon
Connolly’s innings carried the weight of a career-defining marker. He finished with the highest ODI score by an Australian in Asia since Glenn Maxwell’s 201 not out against Afghanistan in 2023, and he did it while battling cramps and physical exhaustion in Dhaka.
The four-hour effort almost doubled his total international runs before Sunday. Before that match, he had 164 runs at an average of 12.61 from 16 innings across all three formats, a record that made the leap to 149 even starker.
Ponting and Smith benchmark
Only Ponting and Steve B Smith had made men’s ODI hundreds for Australia at a younger age than Connolly. That places his innings in a narrow slice of Australian batting history, and it came after Australia had moved him through the international ranks quickly despite limited senior domestic experience.
By September 2024, he had already been handed a T20I debut after 15 BBL appearances and an ODI debut after just four List A appearances. He also played his only Test to date in Galle against Sri Lanka last year, where he batted at No.8 and served as a third spin option.
Bangladesh finish the series
Bangladesh’s win gave it a first 50-over series victory over Australia, a result that framed the match beyond Connolly’s score. He had already shown his range in August last year with a maiden career five-wicket haul against South Africa in Mackay, then last November with an unbeaten 61 from No.6 against India at Adelaide Oval.
The Dhaka innings may not have changed the series outcome for Australia, but it sharpened the view of what Connolly can do when the margin for error disappears. On a day when the home side closed out a landmark series and Australia’s younger allrounder moved into elite company, the scorecard told the story cleanly.
