A record rewritten in Mackay
A 22-year-old left-arm spinner tore up the record book in Mackay. On Sunday, August 24, 2025, Cooper Connolly produced a spell Australia had never seen from a spinner against South Africa in one-day cricket: 5/22 in six overs at Great Barrier Reef Arena. It arrived in a game that was already moving one way, but his burst turned a rout into a statement.
Two days after his birthday, Connolly also became the youngest Australian to take a five-wicket haul in ODIs. He edged past Craig McDermott, who set the previous mark in 1987 at 22 years and 204 days against Pakistan. That benchmark stood for 38 years. It fell in Mackay to a bowler who, until now, was best known for nerveless cameos in the Big Bash.
Australia had set the tone with the bat, hammering 431/2 — their second-highest ODI total. Travis Head’s 142 off 103 balls was all timing and muscle through the off side. Captain Mitchell Marsh clattered a run-a-ball hundred. Then Cameron Green detonated at the death, racing to 118 off 55 with a 47-ball hundred, the second-fastest by an Australian in ODIs. Alex Carey’s busy 50 off 37 kept the tempo brutal from start to finish.
Chasing 432, South Africa were four down inside 10 overs after Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett knocked out the top. Dewald Brevis swung hard for 49 off 28, peppering the leg side with five sixes, but once Connolly dragged him into a miscue, the rest folded. The left-armer wiped out the middle order with a spell built on pace changes and tight angles into the stumps.
His wickets told the tale. Tony de Zorzi (33) nicked behind to Carey. Brevis, the one bright spark, holed out to Green patrolling the deep. Wiaan Mulder (5) and Corbin Bosch (17 off 15) both fell to pressure lines and clever flight, offering catches to Marnus Labuschagne. Keshav Maharaj didn’t last either. The middle evaporated in a cluster that left no way back.
South Africa were all out for 155 in 24.5 overs. The 276-run defeat is now their heaviest in ODIs, eclipsing the 243-run loss to India at Eden Gardens in 2023. For Australia, it sits as their second-largest ODI win by runs, behind the 309-run demolition of the Netherlands at the 2023 World Cup.
Connolly’s 5/22 now stands as the best ODI figures by an Australian spinner on home soil and the best by any Australian spinner against South Africa, surpassing Shane Warne’s 4/29 from 1999. In the head-to-head, only Andy Bichel’s 5/19 and Brett Lee’s 5/22 rank higher for Australia against the Proteas.
How the game unfolded and why it mattered
This was not a dead rubber dressed up as drama. South Africa had already sealed the series 2-0. Australia needed a response. They delivered it with a batting template that’s become their white-ball calling card: hit hard in the powerplay, keep the foot down through the middle, and finish with chaos.
Head’s start was the launch. He battered square on both sides, forcing South Africa to stretch a packed off-side field and still miss their lengths. Marsh played the straight lines, using his height to belt anything back of a length. When Green arrived, the game shifted from control to carnage. His clean hitting down the ground and over long-on turned a big score into a monster. By the time the final ten overs arrived, Australia were teeing off to any plan South Africa tried.
That total did more than end the contest. It freed Marsh to attack with the ball. He squeezed in two slips early. Abbott’s wobble seam and Bartlett’s heavy length did the rest. The Proteas were 4 down before the chase had shape, and that’s when Connolly stepped in.
Why did his spell bite so hard? He bowled into the pitch with subtle drop in pace, then slid the arm ball across right-handers. The release points barely changed, which forced batters to play late and guess. He didn’t need extravagant turn. He just needed South Africa to feel stuck between defending and clearing the infield. They picked the wrong choice often enough to hand him a five-for in 36 legal deliveries.
The dismissals also spoke to his game awareness. De Zorzi was set; Connolly buried him on a length that forced the outside edge. Brevis was hot; Connolly went wider, slower, and tempted the big shot into the deep. Mulder and Bosch were hustled by pace variation. Maharaj, running out of partners, couldn’t reset. It was a short, clinical masterclass in what a left-arm orthodox can do on a day when lines and pace match the field.
There’s a bigger thread here: Australia’s spinners against South Africa in ODIs have often played support to pace. Warne’s 4/29 in 1999 sat as the high-water mark for 26 years. Adam Zampa has long been the middle-overs banker, but five-wicket hauls by Australian spinners in this matchup didn’t exist until Connolly wrote one in Mackay.
And it wasn’t a solo act. Abbott and Bartlett’s new-ball strike gave Connolly a platform. Labuschagne’s catching locked in the rewards. Carey’s glove-work was clean. The seamers returned to finish it. It was ruthless, and it felt intentional: push for NRR in the last game, crush the chase early, stamp a marker before the next block of white-ball matches.
South Africa will point to selection gaps and an early collapse that left their middle order overexposed. Fair. But the bigger problem was tempo. They never managed to slow Australia’s scoring with the ball, and once that 400-plus target landed, they were forced into high-risk batting from ball one. On days like this, Australia are hard to live with.
For Connolly, this night also changes his trajectory. He’s been on the radar since leading Australia at the 2022 Under-19 World Cup and lighting up a Big Bash final for the Perth Scorchers with late-innings hitting. The batting has often grabbed headlines. In Mackay, the bowling did — moulded by the same calm temperament that marked those BBL cameos. Selection panels love that blend: composure under lights, a defined role, and the skill to execute it fast.
Australia’s white-ball depth keeps throwing up options. When the main attack rests or rotates, these games decide pecking orders. A five-for against South Africa is hard to ignore. It also helps that Connolly answers two needs at once: a spinner who can bowl overs in the middle and a handy left-handed bat down the order. Those are the bits that give balance to an XI when injuries or schedules squeeze choice.
There was also a venue note worth filing away. Great Barrier Reef Arena tends to start true, then wear. Under lights, it can reward bowlers who hit a repeatable length and let the ball grip just enough. Australia read that arc perfectly. Front-load runs while the ball is hard; attack with mixed pace and angles when it slows. South Africa were left chasing both the score and the conditions.
By the final act, the contest had shrunk to a numbers exercise. Could South Africa avoid their biggest-ever defeat? They couldn’t. Could Connolly get a five-for before a spell cap or a change at the other end? He could, with time to spare. Could Australia extract more positives from a series they lost? Definitely: Head’s rhythm, Marsh’s authority, Green’s power game, and a young spinner’s breakout.
- First Australian spinner to take a five-wicket haul against South Africa in ODIs.
- Youngest Australian to claim a five-for in ODIs, surpassing Craig McDermott’s 1987 mark.
- Best ODI figures by an Australian spinner on home soil (5/22).
- Third-best ODI figures by any Australian against South Africa (after Andy Bichel’s 5/19 and Brett Lee’s 5/22).
- Australia’s 431/2 is their second-highest ODI total.
- Cameron Green’s 47-ball century is the second-fastest by an Australian in ODIs.
- South Africa’s 276-run loss is their heaviest ODI defeat; Australia’s second-biggest win by runs.
Series scoreline? South Africa still took it 2-1. But the final word belonged to a 22-year-old who bowled six overs and walked off with a ball that will sit in glass for a long time. Australia left Mackay with momentum — and a new option who just made the leap from promising to proven.
