Now a three-format international, WA’s 22-year-old rising star Cooper Connolly has been named the 2026 Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year
Such has been the rise of Cooper Connolly, today named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, that it’s not even the first time he’s been recognised with one of Australian cricket’s top awards.
Since his breakthrough innings in the BBL|12 Final to lift his Perth Scorchers to the title as a 19-year-old, the stylish left-handed allrounder from Scarborough has become one of the country’s most identifiable cricketers.
Within a year of debuting for Western Australia, Connolly had graduated to the national side, earning his T20 international and ODI caps in the UK in September 2024, only 12 months after his making his state debut in the One-Day Cup.
But the now 22-year-old rose to another level in 2025, turning those match-winning performances at domestic level into ones for Australia on the international stage.
Already a three-format player for Australia after earning his Baggy Green cap in Sri Lanka in February – also within a year of hitting 90 on first-class debut in the 2023-24 Sheffield Shield final – Connolly was instrumental in ODI wins over South Africa and India earlier in the summer.
His maiden five-wicket haul (5-22) in professional cricket helped the Aussies seal a massive 276-run victory over the Proteas in Mackay in August and made him the youngest Australian man to take an ODI five-for.
Two months later against India, Connolly produced another defining hand, this time with the bat, as his unbeaten 61 off 53 balls got his side over the line in a tense run chase in Adelaide to clinch the three-match ODI series for Australia.
After sharing the player of the tournament award with Glenn Maxwell last Big Bash season, the Scorchers star has again produced in KFC BBL|15 to help his side top the standings at the end of the home-and-away matches. Having started the campaign with consecutive half-centuries, Connolly has also been a reliable wicket-taker with his left-arm finger spin, especially with the new ball, collecting 13 scalps at 15.38 this season. He’s also been the most economical bowler (6.66) of the top 10 wicket-takers in BBL|15.
It’s that form and skillset that’s helped earn him a maiden call up to Australia’s T20 World Cup squad for next month’s tournament in India and Sri Lanka despite not featuring in the T20 international side since July last year.
“There’s been a lot of cricket played over the last 12 months, I haven’t really had time to sit down and sort of soak it all in,” Connolly said, adding he was “a bit lost for words” after being told he had won the award ahead of a Perth Scorchers training session earlier this week in a presentation by Perth and WA teammates and fellow award winners Jhye Richardson (2018) and Lance Morris (2023).
“I’m just honored to win this award, it’s special.”
But right now, Connolly’s focus is squarely on the Scorchers’ BBL finals tilt, where he hopes to repeat the performances that catapulted him into the national spotlight just three years ago.
“I don’t know if I’ve matured just yet, I’m still 22,” he told reporters ahead of tonight’s home Qualifier final against Sydney Sixers.
“I’ve enjoyed the last couple of years and trying to learn my craft; I’m still learning my craft and I’m just really looking forward to having a home final again.
“That moment going back three years now is a nice moment and I said to my mum and dad three years ago, I’d love to have that feeling again and it’d be nice to have that feeling next Sunday.
“We’ve got a couple of games to go … but the boys are looking forward, we’re super pumped to be playing finals cricket.”
In being named the Bradman Young Cricketer, Connolly joins a roll call of players bestowed the honour before they turned 25 that went on to become Australian greats, including the likes of inaugural winner Brett Lee (2000), Shane Watson (2002) and David Warner (2012).
Ahead of the major Australian Cricket Awards such as the Allan Border Medal and Belinda Clark Award being presented later in the year, South Australian stalwart Jake Lehmann has today also named as the country’s top men’s domestic player for 2025.
Lehmann joins his dad and former Australian Test and ODI batter Darren as a winner of the Male Domestic Player of the Year gong, with Lehmann senior the recipient in each of the first three years it was awarded (2000-02).
Jake, a British passport holder who recently signed a two-year deal with Hampshire as a local player, ending his dream of emulating his dad in playing for Australia, was South Australia’s most prolific batter throughout in their drought-breaking Sheffield Shield title campaign in 2024-25.
Lehmann perhaps saved his finest performance for the Shield final, with his 102 holding SA’s first innings together and allowing them to build a sizeable lead over Queensland, which proved pivotal as they chased down 270 of day four to end the state’s 29-year wait for a first-class title.
In 2025 alone, across the second half of last season and the first half of this one, Lehmann plundered 855 first-class runs at 47.5 with five centuries and a 96.
“It was a little bit of a shock. I felt like I’ve been playing some really good cricket in the last 18 months, so to get recognised by people that you’re playing against and your peers is always something special and I’m grateful for the acknowledgement,” Lehmann said in a statement.
“I feel like as a group we’ve played some really nice cricket, and that’s helped me a lot in being able to play the way that I would like to play. I’ve played the last couple of years with a smile on my face, enjoying myself and probably playing cricket the right way.
“Over my career, I’ve looked up to these players and aspire to be these players. I’ve tried to copy a few things that those players have done over the years, so, to have my name against their names and be acknowledged in that way is just an honour.”
